Mount Pleasant, SC Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Spacing requirement
- 1,500 feet from schools, worship, residential property
- Governing section
- Mount Pleasant Code § 156.346
- Use classification
- Conditional commercial use
- License required
- Town business license plus zoning permit
- Penalty
- Up to $500 fine or 30 days jail
Summary
In the Town of Mount Pleasant, an adult use cannot locate within 1,500 feet of a place of worship, school, day care, playground, public or private recreation facility, any property zoned for residential use, or any property with an existing residential use. Town Council places this spacing standard in the Zoning Code as a condition attached to every adult-use permit.
§ 156.346 ADULT USES. The parcel on which the use will occur is not located within 1,500 feet of a place of worship, school, day care, playground, public or private recreation facility, property zoned to allow residential uses, or property with existing residential uses.
Full Breakdown
346. The Zoning Code defines an adult use as a business or activity that excludes minors and derives a substantial share of its stock-in-trade from materials emphasizing sexual subject matter, or that hosts activities emphasizing specified sexual activities or anatomical parts, whether standalone or as an adjunct to another business. Before Town Council's Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Department signs off on a zoning permit, staff measures the 1,500-foot buffer from the parcel to every place of worship, school, day care, playground, public or private recreation facility, and any residentially zoned or occupied property nearby; a site that fails the buffer cannot be approved regardless of the underlying zoning district.
09 before issuing that license, so an adult use that clears the spacing test still needs both the zoning permit and the Town business license before opening. The rule sits in Subchapter C, Part 3 of the Zoning Code alongside other principal-use conditions such as those for amusement centers and animal boarding facilities, reflecting the same buffer approach the Town applies to uses it keeps away from schools and residential neighborhoods.
Violations & Fines
Operating an adult use that violates the 1,500-foot buffer, or opening without both a zoning permit and a Town business license, exposes the operator to license revocation and prosecution under Section 110.19: a fine of up to $500 or up to 30 days imprisonment, with each day of continued operation charged as a separate offense. The Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Department and the License Official jointly enforce compliance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can an adult business locate anywhere in Mount Pleasant zoned for commercial use?
What counts as an adult use under the Zoning Code?
What happens if an adult use opens without meeting the spacing rule?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Mount Pleasant
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Adult Entertainment in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Charleston County handle adult entertainment.