Methuen, MA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 11.10 of the Methuen Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance, added in 1996 by Ord. No. 565, sets the rules for adult entertainment facilities in the City of Methuen. The stated purposes are to protect public health, safety and welfare, to ensure the proper location of these facilities in relation to residential areas and liquor establishments, and to minimize the impact on residential properties. A special permit is required for three defined uses: adult bookstores, adult entertainment establishments and adult motion-picture theaters. Applications are allowed only in the BH Highway Business District and the IL Limited Industrial District.

The applicant files with the Community Development Board an original and 11 copies of the application plus 12 copies of a site plan, as described in § 11.3. When the land has more than one owner, each owner is a party to the application and, on approval, is subject to its provisions. The Board must find that the general special permit requirements of § 11.2B are met and that every specific requirement of Subsection D is met.

Subsection D sets the numbers. No more than one adult bookstore permit can be granted per 20,000 residents, one adult motion-picture permit per 30,000 residents and one adult entertainment establishment special permit per 30,000 residents, using the latest census data. No permit is granted within one-quarter mile of the RR, RA, RB, RC, RD, RG, MA and MB districts, within one-quarter mile of another existing or permitted adult use, or within one-half mile of an establishment licensed under Chapter 138 of the Massachusetts General Laws. Exterior signs, and interior displays visible through glass, cannot show sexually explicit figures or words as defined in MGL c. 272, § 31. An adult motion-picture theater must establish and maintain a buffer screen that keeps motorists and pedestrians from seeing the movie screen.