Portsmouth, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Sec. 2-213 defines an Adult Entertainment Establishment as any adult hotel or motel, adult motion picture arcade, adult motion picture theater, cabaret, sexual encounter center, or other business offering patrons services or entertainment emphasizing matter depicting or describing sexual activities or sexual anatomy, excluding uses that are illegal or preempted by state law. 2-216, the citywide Use Table, permits an Adult Entertainment Establishment only with a discretionary Use Permit (marked 'U') in the General Mixed-Use (GMU), Light Industrial (IL), and Industrial (IN) districts; the use is not listed as permitted or Use-Permit-eligible in the Neighborhood Residential, General Residential, Urban Residential, Urban Residential-Mixed, Neighborhood Mixed-Use, Mixed-Use High-Intensity, any Downtown (D1) sub-district, or any historic sub-district, meaning it cannot locate there at all.

Sec. 2-217(G)(1)(a) explains the purpose of this control: adult uses are recognized as having objectionable operational characteristics, particularly where several concentrate together or sit close to residential neighborhoods, and the primary regulatory goal is preventing that concentration from blighting surrounding areas. Sec. 2-217(G)(1)(b) then imposes a specific display standard on top of the district limits: no signage displaying Specified Anatomical Areas or Specified Sexual Activities may appear on a building's exterior, and no such materials may be visible through any window into the facility, regardless of whether the establishment holds an approved Use Permit.

An Adult Retail Store, a related but separately defined use, is treated somewhat more permissively under the same Use Table, allowed by-right in GMU, IL, and IN and by Use Permit in the MU-H district. Because Adult Entertainment Establishments require a Use Permit under Sec. 2-533 rather than a simple Zoning Permit, an application goes to the Planning Commission and City Council for a public hearing before it can be approved, denied, or conditioned.