James City County, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Permit required
- Special use permit (SUP)
- Approving body
- Board of Supervisors
- By-right allowed
- No, SUP only
- Adult store threshold
- 25% of floor space/stock
- Governing sections
- Code §§ 24-2, 24-368
Summary
James City County classifies strip clubs, adult stores and similar sexually oriented businesses under a single Zoning Ordinance definition and requires a special use permit before one may open. Sec. 24-2 defines the use broadly, and the Limited Business District use table at Sec. 24-368 lists it SUP rather than by-right.
Sexually oriented business. ... Any premises which the public patronizes or to which members are invited or admitted, and which are so physically arranged as to provide booths, cubicles, rooms, compartments or stalls separate from the common areas of the premises for the purpose of viewing adult-oriented motion pictures or wherein an entertainer provides adult entertainment to a member of the public, a patron or a member, when such adult entertainment is held, conducted, operated or maintained for a profit, directly or indirectly. ... Use Category Use List Permitted Uses Specially Permitted Uses ... Sexually oriented business SUP
Full Breakdown
The county does not issue an adult-entertainment business license apart from its zoning code. Chapter 24, Sec. 24-2 defines a sexually oriented business as any premises the public patronizes that is physically arranged with booths, cubicles, rooms, compartments or stalls separate from common areas for viewing adult-oriented motion pictures, or where an entertainer provides adult entertainment to a patron for profit. The definition folds in adult stores, twenty-five percent or more of floor space or stock-in-trade devoted to adult media or novelty items, adult media, and adult novelty items, and reaches conduct the zoning administrator finds materially similar.
Rather than banning the use outright, the Zoning Ordinance channels it through the special use permit process: the Limited Business District use table at Sec. 24-368 lists Sexually oriented business with no by-right Permitted entry and an SUP entry in the Specially Permitted Uses column, meaning the Board of Supervisors must approve a discretionary special use permit before the business can operate, and the same SUP-only treatment recurs in the county's other commercial-use tables. An applicant seeking that SUP must meet the community-impact and site-plan submittal requirements of Sec.
24-23, and the retail-store definition in Sec. 24-2 separately excludes sexually oriented businesses from being treated as an ordinary retail shop, so an adult business cannot piggyback on a general retail permit.
Violations & Fines
Opening or operating a sexually oriented business without the required special use permit is a zoning violation. Under Sec. 24-22 it is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $10.00 to $1,000.00, with each 30-day period of continued noncompliance a separate offense, and the county may pursue an injunction to close the business until the Board of Supervisors grants the SUP.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I open an adult bookstore or club in James City County by right?
What counts as a 'sexually oriented business' under county law?
Does a vape or smoke lounge count the same way?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in James City County
Compare James City County to another location·View the Virginia business licensing & operations overview
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