Sandy, UT Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Sandy City Code § 16-2-4 makes it unlawful to operate a sexually oriented business, defined at § 16-2-3 as an adult bookstore, adult novelty or video store, adult cabaret, adult motel, adult motion picture theater, or semi-nude model studio, without a license from the Business License Authority, and unlawful for anyone to work at one without a separate employee license. Applicants file in person, notarized, with a floor-space diagram, proof of age, and a five-year disclosure of any prior license revocations or nuisance findings. Under § 16-2-5 the Authority must issue or deny within 20 days of a complete filing, and must deny if the applicant is under 18, the license fee set by City Council resolution under § 16-2-6 is unpaid, or the business fails the interior configuration or location requirements of the chapter or the Land Development Code.

Those location requirements sit in the Permitted Land Use Matrix at § 21-8-2, which bars the use if any part of the building is within 1,000 feet of a school, park, library, or religious or cultural activity; 500 feet of another sexually oriented business, escort agency, outcall service, or semi-nude dancing agency; 600 feet of a residential or agricultural use or zoning boundary; 150 feet of the 9000 South Street gateway; or anywhere within 800 feet of the Interstate 15 right-of-way, counting any parcel any part of which falls inside that 800-foot band.

, § 16-2-15 requires posted no-loitering signage plus a 90-minute walkthrough or continuous video monitoring, and § 16-2-18 bans full nudity and confines semi-nude performers to a stage at least 18 inches high and six feet from patrons in a room of at least 1,000 square feet.