Kingsport, TN Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Sec. 114-195(a)(6) names four uses: adult bookstores, cabaret, motion picture theater and sexual encounter establishments. Their property line cannot be closer than 1,500 feet from any residential district or residential use, from public amusement or entertainment activity and public gathering places such as arcades, motion picture theaters, bowling alleys, marinas, golf courses, playgrounds, ice-skating or roller skating rinks, zoos and community centers, or from any public recreation, school, library, day care center, park, church, mortuary, hospital or cemetery. The same paragraph bars a location closer than one-half mile from any other adult oriented establishment property line.

Distance is measured in a straight line without regard to intervening structures or objects, from the nearest portion of the structure used as part of the adult oriented establishment to the nearest property line or boundary of any restricted area. An applicant submits documentation of existing land uses, zoning and other pertinent features within one-half mile of the property, with site plans, surveys and other pertinent site information, so the zoning administrator can make a thorough evaluation. The B-3 district also sets a minimum lot area of 10,000 square feet, lot frontage of 50 feet, a front yard of 20 feet, a rear yard of 30 feet and maximum lot coverage of 40 percent, and Sec.

114-195(l) bars a B-3 building permit until the city planning department approves a final zoning development plan. Sec. 114-1 defines an adult bookstore as an establishment whose stock in trade is more than 50 percent books, magazines, motion pictures, periodicals and other materials characterized by depicting, describing or relating to specified anatomical areas. Separately, Chapter 62, Article V, Division 2 regulates nudity and sexual acts in public places where food or alcoholic beverages are offered.