Pico Rivera, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Permit required
- before opening, relocating, or expanding 10%+
- Issuing authority
- director of community development
- Hearing deadline
- within 21 days of completed application
- Decision deadline
- 2 working days after hearing
- Age notice posting
- within 10 feet of customer entrances
- Performer buffer
- 3 feet with physical barrier
- Enforcement
- civil remedies, no criminal penalty for conduct
Summary
In the City of Pico Rivera, an adult arcade, cabaret, retail store, theater, motel, or modeling studio cannot open or relocate without an adult business regulatory permit from community development. Applicants face a background disclosure, a public hearing within 21 days, and daily civil penalties for violations.
§ 5.22.030. Adult business regulatory permit required. ... A. It shall be unlawful for any person to establish, operate, engage in, conduct, or carry on any adult business within the City of Pico Rivera unless the person first obtains, and continues to maintain in full force and effect, an adult business regulatory permit as herein required. ... ... § 5.22.040. Investigation and action on application for adult business regulatory permit. ... ... B. Within twenty-one days of receipt of the completed application, the investigation shall be completed and the director of community development or his/her designee shall notice and conduct a public hearing. ... ... § 5.22.120. Violations. ... A. Any owner, operator, manager, employee or independent contractor of an adult business violating or permitting, counseling, or assisting the violation of any of these provisions regulating adult businesses shall be subject to any and all civil remedies, including permit revocation. ... Any violation of these provisions shall constitute a separate violation for each and every day during which such violation is committed or continued.
Full Breakdown
Chapter 5.22 of the Pico Rivera Municipal Code regulates adult businesses to curb the judicially recognized secondary effects of crime, blight, and property devaluation while preserving First Amendment rights. Section 5.22.030 makes it unlawful to establish, operate, or carry on any adult business, defined broadly to include adult arcades, retail stores, cabarets, motels, motion picture theaters, and modeling studios, without first obtaining and maintaining an adult business regulatory permit; any new establishment, conversion, addition, relocation, or expansion of floor area by more than 10% triggers a new application.
The director of community development or a designee grants or denies permits, while the planning commission handles suspension or revocation. Applicants must file a verified application disclosing their legal name and aliases, partnership or corporate structure, and a signed statement confirming no sex-offense conviction within the preceding two years for a misdemeanor or five years for a felony or repeat misdemeanors, along with a floor diagram and parking layout. Under § 5.22.040, city staff must complete their investigation and hold a public hearing within 21 days of a completed application, issue a written decision within two working days of the hearing, and a missed deadline is deemed an approval subject to appeal to the city council under § 5.22.080.
Approved businesses must comply with detailed operating standards in § 5.22.050, including an eighteen-and-over admission notice posted within ten feet of every customer entrance, a three-foot no-contact buffer with a physical barrier between performers and patrons, and a rule that tips be placed in containers at least ten feet from the stage rather than handed to performers. Permits are not criminal licenses: § 5.22.120 states the restrictions are a permitting process and the city imposes no criminal penalty for sexual-conduct violations, instead subjecting violators to civil remedies including revocation, with each day of violation a separate offense, and declaring an operating violation a public nuisance subject to abatement under § 5.22.130.
Violations & Fines
Any owner, operator, manager, employee, or independent contractor who violates or assists in violating Chapter 5.22 is subject to civil remedies including permit revocation, with each day of continued violation a separate violation under § 5.22.120. An adult business operating in violation of the chapter is declared a public nuisance under § 5.22.130 and may be abated or enjoined from further operation; the chapter imposes no criminal penalty for sexual-conduct violations.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
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