Issaquah, WA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

The siting rule is Land Use Code § 18.502.100. Its stated purpose is to mitigate the adverse secondary effects caused by such facilities and to maintain compatibility with other land uses. It applies to adult arcades, adult entertainment cabarets, adult motels, adult motion picture theaters and adult retail stores as defined in IMC 5.10.030. Subsection (C) says the standards cannot be construed to restrict expressive dance, plays, operas and musicals, classes and lectures for a scientific, educational or artistic purpose, nudity in a locker room or medical facility, or movies and videos rated G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17.

Under subsection (D), a facility cannot be located within 500 feet of a residential zone, a public or private primary or secondary school, a preschool or nursery school, a licensed day care center, a public library, a public park, private park open to the general public, public swimming pool or public playground, a gymnastics center, ballet school or the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, a church, temple, mosque, synagogue, chapel or similar religious facility, or a residential, day treatment or workshop facility for persons with mental disabilities. The protected zone or use counts whether it sits inside or outside the City limits. Distance runs in a straight line from the nearest boundary line of a protected zone, or the nearest physical point of the structure housing a protected use, to the nearest physical point of the structure housing the facility. No more than one facility is permitted on any given lot, and none can locate in the North Issaquah Annexation area described in Ordinance No. 2264.

Licensing is separate. Section 5.10.070 makes it unlawful to own, operate or manage a facility, or to appear as an entertainer nude or seminude, without the matching license issued by the City Clerk. An original business license application carries a nonrefundable fee of $700.00 (§ 5.10.080(F)) and requires fingerprints, photographs and a sketch of the premises. The City Clerk grants or denies a business license application within 30 calendar days of a complete filing, and a manager's or entertainer's application within 15 calendar days; each license is valid for 1 year (§ 5.10.110).