Kill Devil Hills, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- License required
- Chapter 112 license plus zoning site plan approval
- Distance from residential/commercial zones
- 400 feet
- Distance from another such business
- 200 feet
- Distance from schools, churches, parks
- 1,000 feet
- Hours allowed
- 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. daily
- Minimum age on premises
- 18 years
- Penalty
- Class 3 misdemeanor, up to $50 or 30 days
Summary
A sexually oriented business in the Town of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina needs both zoning site plan approval and a Chapter 112 license before opening, and Chapter 153's zoning code keeps it hundreds to a thousand feet away from homes, other such businesses, churches, schools, day cares and parks.
No person shall operate a sexually oriented business unless such person has received site plan approval in accordance with the zoning code of the town set forth in Ch. 153 and received a sexually oriented business license as provided by this chapter. ... As specified in Ch. 153, Zoning Code, sexually oriented businesses may not: (1) Locate within 400 feet in any direction from a building used as a dwelling in the Light Industrial I Zoning District; (2) Locate within 400 feet in any direction from a residential zoning district (Residential Low, Residential High and Ocean Impact Residential Zone), Government and Institution Zoning District or Commercial Zoning District; (3) Locate within 200 feet in any direction from a building in which a sexually oriented business is located; (4) Locate within 1,000 feet in any direction from a building in which a religious complex is located; (5) Locate within 1,000 feet in any direction from a building in which a library, school or a state licensed child day care center is located; (6) Locate within 1,000 feet in any direction from any lot or parcel on which a public playground, public swimming pool or public park is located.
Full Breakdown
15 requires anyone operating a sexually oriented business, defined broadly to include adult arcades, bookstores, video stores, cabarets, media centers, live entertainment businesses, motels, theaters, escort agencies, nude model studios and sexual encounter centers, to first obtain site plan approval under the town's Zoning Code (Chapter 153) and then a sexually oriented business license under Chapter 112. 30. 31 sets the spacing itself: no sexually oriented business may locate within 400 feet of a dwelling in the Light Industrial I district or of any Residential Low, Residential High, Ocean Impact Residential, Government and Institutional, or Commercial zoning district; within 200 feet of another sexually oriented business; or within 1,000 feet of a religious complex, library, school, licensed child day care center, public playground, public swimming pool or public park, measured in a straight line from building to building regardless of intervening structures. 37.
Violations & Fines
Every operating requirement in Chapter 112, from the license and site plan in § 112.15 through the spacing rule in § 112.31, the posted-license rule, hours of operation, and the under-18 ban, carries its own "Penalty, see § 112.99" line, and § 112.99 routes every violation of the chapter to the town's general penalty in § 10.99: a Class 3 misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $50 or up to 30 days imprisonment. Refusing a lawful inspection can also cost the business its license under § 112.19, and violating the under-18 patronage or employment rule in § 112.34 is independent grounds for license revocation.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Kill Devil Hills
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