Milpitas, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Municipal Code Chapter III-4 requires anyone operating an adult business, including adult arcades, bookstores, cabarets, motels, theaters, escort agencies and modeling studios, to first obtain a permit from the Chief of Police. Applicants file a sworn application with fingerprints, background information and a plot plan, and pay a nonrefundable fee set by City Council resolution. Adult businesses may only locate in the H-S (Highway Service), M1 (Light Manufacturing) or M2 (Manufacturing) zoning districts, and are barred within 1,000 feet of any school, public park or recreation area, residential district, mobile home park, church or religious institution, and within 500 feet of any other adult business; distances are measured in a straight line between the nearest entrances or property lines.

The Chief of Police must determine an application complete within 15 business days and grant or deny it within 60 days of completeness. A permit is denied if the applicant is under 18, owes the City money, falsified the application, the location violates the spacing rules, or the applicant has a disqualifying conviction for a specified criminal act within the preceding two years (misdemeanor) or five years (felony or repeat misdemeanors). Permits last one year, renew annually, and are nontransferable; a 10 percent or greater change in floor area also voids a permit.

Operating hours are limited to 8:00 a.m. to midnight, with minimum lighting levels set by area, ranging from 5 footcandles in theaters to 20 footcandles in bookstores and hotel public areas.