Nicholasville, KY Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 12-7.5 sets the price. Every person who operates an adult entertainment establishment pays an annual license tax of $10,000 per year in lieu of the regular occupational license fee, effective April 1, 2000, with the first payment due by March 31, 2000 and later payments due on the date the city's occupational ordinance requires. An independent contractor working in an establishment pays the regular occupational license fee. The license is valid upon issuance and is not transferable to any other person during the period of the license.

Section 12-7.6 lists the qualifications. Subsection (a) screens for felony, prostitution-related, obscene-production and nuisance convictions and for a license revoked for cause within the last two years, and it requires a bond equal to the license fee from any applicant who has ever had a license revoked for cause. The applicant submits to fingerprinting and photographing by the city police department, owes no past due fees or taxes to the city, and files a financial disclosure form, a floor plan and, for leased premises, a copy of the lease with the city license inspector. The premises must meet the health, zoning, fire, building and plumbing codes and cannot provide direct interior access to residential living quarters. An applicant aggrieved by a license inspector's decision has ten days to appeal to the Board of Commission.

Spacing appears in the Section 12-8.8 definitions under LOCATION REQUIREMENTS. No adult bookstore, adult entertainment establishment or adult theater can be located within 300 feet of any other such use, within 300 feet of the boundaries of any residential zone, or 300 feet from existing residential areas, defined as a block frontage developed with 50 percent or more residential uses. Distance is measured in a straight line from and to the nearest points of the respective properties, and an operating adult business that does not meet the requirements is deemed a non-conforming use.

Section 12-7.12(j) bars an establishment from opening for business between 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. each day. Section 12-7.7 requires every employee, volunteer or working proprietor to register with the police department and pay $100 to cover registration and the identification card.