Plainfield, NJ Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Spacing
- 1,000 feet from listed uses and residential areas
- Perimeter buffer
- At least 50 feet wide, view-impeding divider
- Exterior signs
- Two maximum: one identification, one off-limits-to-minors notice
- Identification sign size
- No more than 40 square feet
- Existing lawful businesses
- Exempt from the spacing and buffer subsections
- Enforcer
- Zoning Officer and City Council
Summary
In the City of Plainfield, New Jersey, no sexually oriented business can operate within one thousand feet of another one, a house of worship, a school, a school bus stop, a playground, a hospital, a child care center or any area zoned residential. Each business also needs a fifty-foot perimeter buffer and is limited to two exterior signs.
A. No person shall operate a sexually oriented business within one thousand (1,000) feet of any existing sexually oriented business, or any church, synagogue, temple or other place of public worship, or any elementary or secondary school or any school bus stop, or any municipal or County playground or place of public resort and recreation, or any hospital or any child care center, or within one thousand (1,000) feet of any area zoned for residential use. ... B. Buffer Zone. Every sexually oriented business shall be surrounded by a perimeter buffer of at least fifty (50) feet in width with plantings, fence, or other physical divider along the outside of the perimeter sufficient to impede the view of the interior of the premises in which the business is located. ... C. No sexually oriented business shall display more than two (2) exterior signs, consisting of one (1) identification sign and one (1) sign giving notice that the premises are off limits to minors. The identification sign shall be no more than forty (40) square feet in size.
Full Breakdown
Section 17:9-49B of the Plainfield Municipal Code regulates where sexually oriented businesses can operate in the City of Plainfield and how they must look. Subsection A bars operating one within one thousand (1,000) feet of any existing sexually oriented business, any church, synagogue, temple or other place of public worship, any elementary or secondary school or school bus stop, any municipal or County playground or place of public resort and recreation, any hospital or child care center, or any area zoned for residential use.
Existing businesses get a limited carve-out. Subsection A does not apply to a sexually oriented business already lawfully operating on the effective date of the section where a school, bus stop, playground, hospital, child care center, another sexually oriented business, or a residential district or lot is later established within one thousand feet. Subsection B does not apply to a business already lawfully operating on the effective date either.
Subsection B requires every sexually oriented business to be surrounded by a perimeter buffer at least fifty (50) feet wide, with plantings, a fence or another physical divider along the outside sufficient to impede the view of the interior, and it lets the municipality add requirements by ordinance. Subsection C limits exterior signs to two: one identification sign of no more than forty (40) square feet and one sign giving notice that the premises are off limits to minors.
The chapter's definitions cover two kinds of business: a commercial establishment with a principal business purpose of offering for sale, rental or display books, films, viewing machines or paraphernalia that depict or describe a "specified sexual activity" or "specified anatomical area," and one that regularly features live performances characterized by exposure of a specified anatomical area or by a specified sexual activity. Section 17:9-46 prohibits any use not expressly permitted in the chapter. The provision was relocated from former § 17:9-56 by Ordinance MC 2013-13 on December 9, 2013.
Violations & Fines
Section 17:1-22 lets the Plainfield City Council or the Zoning Officer bring legal action to restrain, correct or abate a violation and to prevent any illegal business or use of the premises, with each day after notice and a reasonable opportunity to correct counting as a separate violation. Section 17:1-23 sets the penalty at not more than $1,500 for the first ten days after the initial summons and not more than $75 per day afterward, at the court's discretion.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far must a sexually oriented business be from a school in Plainfield?
How does the City of Plainfield define a sexually oriented business?
Does the spacing rule apply to a business that is already open?
What signs can a sexually oriented business display?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Plainfield
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