Iredell County, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Adult Oriented Business is one of the Performance Requirements categories tucked into Chapter 3 of the Iredell County Land Development Code, and R39 sets out six separate limits rather than a single distance rule. The spacing test runs two ways: no such business may sit within 1,000 feet of another Adult Oriented Business, and none may sit within 1,200 feet of a church, a public or private elementary or secondary school, a child day care or nursery school, a public park, any residentially zoned or residentially used property, or any establishment holding an on-premise ABC license, with every distance measured in a straight line from property line to property line, not by road travel.

Even where a location clears the spacing test, the business is capped at 3,000 square feet of gross floor area and every business-related activity has to occur inside a building rather than outdoors. R39 also forecloses two common workaround business models: it may not include sleeping quarters, and it cannot double up with another Adult Oriented Business, or with any other principal or accessory use, inside the same building, structure, or portion of a structure. Finally, no enclosed or underground parking is permitted for the use, keeping vehicles visible from the street.

Because Adult Oriented Business appears in the Table of Permitted and Special Uses with the 'R' column pointing to R39, an applicant must first confirm the zoning district allows the use at all before layering these spacing, size, and operational limits on top of the site plan submitted to the Zoning Administrator.