Macon-Bibb County, GA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

01 of the Comprehensive Land Development Resolution layers five separate buffers around any adult entertainment establishment. The widest, 1,000 feet, keeps the use away from churches and other places of worship, public or private parks and recreation areas, compulsory-education schools, day care centers, kindergartens, playschools, public or private libraries, and orphanages. A 750-foot buffer applies to dwelling units of any type, colleges and universities, any bar, tavern, nightclub or restaurant that serves alcohol, any liquor or package store, hospitals and doctors' offices, and grocery stores.

A 500-foot buffer separates adult establishments from the historic district and the CBD-1 and CBD-2 downtown commercial districts. Where the zoning code allows adult uses as limited uses, they must still stay 250 feet apart from each other in SC Special Commercial districts, or 750 feet apart in C-4 Highway Commercial, M-2 and M-3 Heavy Industrial districts. Every distance is measured as a straight radial line, property line to property line, and must be documented by a survey from a Georgia-licensed surveyor, filed both with a rezoning petition and again with the permit application.

The resolution separately bars buildings from being painted or textured to simulate a sign, requires any adult performance or merchandise display to stay inside the building and screened from outside view, and forbids hawkers or outdoor loudspeakers advertising the use. A companion provision in the general Code, Section 4-71, independently bans nude entertainment and nude serving staff at any premises licensed to sell alcohol for on-site consumption, regardless of zoning, reflecting the Commission's stated finding that alcohol and live nudity together drive crime, blight and property devaluation in Macon-Bibb neighborhoods.