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

Article IV of Chapter 4 defines an "adult business" in Sec. 4-86 to include any adult bookstore, adult video store, adult model studio, adult motel, adult movie theater, adult nightclub or adult store, or any business regularly exploiting an interest in specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas. Sec. 4-87(a) requires each adult business to file an application with a $95 fee per applicant per location, and gave businesses already operating when the article took effect 90 days to apply. The application must include the applicant's identifying information, criminal history, fingerprints, a criminal-records-check authorization to the Sheriff's Office, and disclosure of any prior adult-business permits held or revoked elsewhere.

The Sheriff or a designee must act within 60 days of a complete application, extendable 30 days if awaiting outside records; if no denial is issued within 90 days, the permit is deemed approved. Sec. 4-87(d) lists disqualifiers: false statements, a sex-offender-registry conviction within 10 years, a homicide, robbery or malicious-wounding conviction within 10 years, a felony within 5 years, an obscenity or indecent-exposure conviction within 3 years, a permit denial or revocation elsewhere within 12 months, or an unpaid fee. Permits run 12 months and renew for $50 per applicant under Sec.

4-87(f) and are not transferable. Sec. 4-88 lets the county revoke a permit for fraud, a disqualifying conviction, drug activity, prostitution or sexual conduct on the premises, or operating outside the approved permit. Sec. 4-89 gives a denied or revoked applicant 10 days to request a hearing before the code enforcement administrator and the sheriff, and Sec. 4-90 allows judicial review in the Circuit Court of Stafford County.