Lower Paxton, PA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 203-603(A) sets the express minimum standards for an adult-oriented business in Lower Paxton Township. Spacing comes first: 1,000 lineal feet from any lot zoned residential, 500 lineal feet from the lot line of a residential dwelling, and 500 lineal feet from the lot boundary of any existing school, day care center, hospital, group care facility, personal care boarding home, group home, public park or playground, place of worship, or establishment licensed to serve or sell alcoholic beverages. No adult business can sit within 1,000 lineal feet of another existing or proposed adult-oriented business, and § 203-620(A)(4) keeps a night club 500 lineal feet from an adult-oriented business, measured lot line to lot line.

Operating rules follow. The use shall not operate between 12:00 midnight and 7:00 a.m. Paragraph (6) bars live actual or simulated sex acts and any physical or sexual contact between employees and entertainers or with customers, requires employees and entertainers at adult live entertainment to keep a minimum of three feet from customers, and names "lap dancing" as prohibited. Paragraph (7) allows only "lawful" massages as defined by State Court decisions in a massage parlor.

Licensing is separate from zoning. Paragraph (10) requires owners and operators to obtain a Township license under the Township Code of Ordinances and pay an investigation fee set from time to time by resolution of the Board of Supervisors, with applications obtained at the Township Planning Department and filed with the Zoning Officer. Paragraph (9) requires each application to state, on an annual basis, the names and home addresses of everyone intended to hold more than a 5% ownership interest and of an on-site manager responsible for daily compliance. Under paragraph (11), the license is valid through December 31 of the year first issued, renewal applications go to the Zoning Officer by November 1, and a missing or lapsed license is grounds to deny or revoke an occupancy permit.

Conditional use review runs through § 203-600: a written application to the Zoning Officer no less than four weeks or 28 days before the regular Planning Commission meeting, a public hearing before the Board of Supervisors, and a decision within 45 days after the last hearing.