Highlands County, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Highlands County's Sexually Oriented Business Ordinance, Code Chapter 4, Article IV, requires a license before anyone opens an adult arcade, adult bookstore or video store, adult cabaret, adult dancing establishment, adult motel, adult motion picture theater, adult theater, escort agency, nude model studio, or sexual encounter center in the unincorporated county. Section 4-142 makes operating without a valid license, or outside the classification the license covers, a violation, and the county administrator issues, denies, suspends, renews and revokes these licenses. Section 4-201's distance requirements are separate from the licensing step: a new or enlarged sexually oriented business cannot sit within 1,500 feet of another preexisting sexually oriented business, a religious institution, an educational institution, a residentially zoned or designated area, a private residence, or a park, or within 500 feet of a preexisting business licensed to sell alcohol for on-premises consumption.

Section 4-202 measures that distance as a straight line between the closest property lines. Businesses zoned outside an industrial district where the use is expressly permitted cannot open at all, regardless of distance. The Sheriff's Office verifies license applications and enforces the article's criminal provisions, the building department, fire marshal and health department each inspect for compliance with their own codes, and the zoning department confirms locational and zoning compliance. A business lawfully operating before February 1, 1995 that fails the spacing rule becomes a nonconforming use allowed to continue for two years, and any decision of the county administrator can be appealed as of right to the circuit court under section 4-110.