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

The joint Owensboro-Daviess County Zoning Ordinance treats adult entertainment as an overlay condition on top of ordinary use classifications rather than a stand-alone use. Appendix F Section 8.4, Note 47 applies to any assembly, business, or mercantile use in the Zones and Uses Table that also meets the definition of adult entertainment found elsewhere in the code of ordinances. Note 47(a) confines these businesses to the B-2, B-3, B-4, and B-5 zones, and only where the particular underlying use, such as a theater, bar, or retail store, is itself listed as permitted in that specific business zone.

Note 47(b) layers a 500-foot separation on top of the zone limit: no adult entertainment establishment can sit within 500 feet of another adult entertainment establishment, a residential zone, a school enrolling anyone under 18, a child daycare center, a church facility, or a public park or recreation facility. Distances are measured in a straight line between entrance doors and, for zones and community facilities, to the nearest property line, without regard for buildings or other structures in between. Note 47(c) requires the same off-street parking as any other assembly, business, or mercantile use in the applicable zone. Because a B-2 property inside the Downtown Overlay District follows Article 21's separate schedule of uses instead of Section 8.2, an adult entertainment use proposed there is reviewed under that overlay's rules rather than the citywide B-2 standard. The Zoning Administrator confirms zone eligibility and spacing before issuing a building permit or certificate of occupancy.