Benton County, AR Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

7 of the Planning and Development Regulations regulates adult-oriented businesses, defined to include adult arcades, adult bookstores or video stores, adult cabarets, adult live entertainment establishments, adult motion picture theaters, adult theaters, massage establishments offering adult services, escort agencies, and nude model studios. A. Section 14-1-301, citing findings on secondary effects from Los Angeles v. Alameda Books, Erie v. , City of Renton v. Playtime Theatres, and Young v. American Mini Theatres. The operative location rule bars any adult-oriented business from locating within 1,000 feet of a child care facility, park, place of worship, playground, public library, recreational area or facility, residence, school, or walking trail.

That 1,000-foot distance is measured in a straight line in every direction, ignoring intervening structures, from the nearest point on the adult business's property line to the nearest point on the protected use's property line. The regulations include a grandfather protection: a lawfully located adult-oriented business is not put in violation if a protected use, such as a new residence or church, later moves within 1,000 feet of it. Enforcement runs through civil action rather than a criminal citation alone: the county attorney may sue to abate and enjoin the violation, and separately, any county resident may bring their own civil action in their own name to abate and enjoin the same violation and to stop the property owner, lessee, or agent from permitting it.