Meriden, CT Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 213-25B(2)(p) governs where Meriden's General Commercial and Highway Commercial Districts, C-2 and C-3, may host adult entertainment, adult bookstores, video booths, or other sexually oriented businesses; the use reaches these districts as a permitted-use list item, but the spacing rule attached to it functions as the real gatekeeper. No such establishment featuring nude or topless dancing, stripping, or other adult or sexually oriented content may locate within 1,000 feet of a residence, a school, a church, or a park. The same 1,000-foot buffer also runs between one adult business and another, so the code prevents an adult-entertainment cluster from forming even where no residence or school is nearby.

Because C-2 and C-3 line most of Meriden's commercial corridors, which sit close to residential neighborhoods and schools throughout the City, the two 1,000-foot buffers in practice eliminate most parcels from qualifying, leaving only isolated commercial sites that clear both distance tests simultaneously. The same section separately regulates video booths within an adult bookstore or similar establishment: booths must open onto the general retail floor and cannot have doors or other material obscuring the interior from outside view, a transparency requirement aimed at discouraging on-site loitering or private viewing rooms. The Zoning Enforcement Officer measures compliance at the site-plan stage before a certificate of approval or building permit can issue for the use.