Shenandoah, TX Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Chapter 18, Article III of the Shenandoah, Texas code of ordinances (Montgomery County) requires a sexually oriented business permit, or SOBP, before any Class I or Class II enterprise, including adult bookstores, adult cabarets, adult motels, adult theaters, adult arcades, and escort agencies as defined in Sec. , Local Government Code ch. 243. As part of the Sec. 18-174 permit application for a Class I enterprise, the applicant must certify three separate spacing requirements: the location must sit at least 1,500 feet from any child care facility, school, dwelling, hospital, public building, public park, church or place of religious worship; at least one mile from a penal institution as defined by the Texas Penal Code; and outside 2,000 feet of more than two other existing Class I enterprises.

Sec. 18-174(e)(4)(2) fixes how those distances are measured: in a straight line from the nearest building or appurtenance used by the enterprise to the nearest building or appurtenance used for the protected purpose, regardless of whether the protected use sits inside the city or in unincorporated Montgomery County. Applicants must also post 24-by-36-inch notice signs on every side of the property visible from a public road within seven days of filing, and must mail written notice to every property owner and lessee within 1,500 feet, who then have 14 days to request a public hearing under Sec.

18-177. The city administrator investigates, issues, conditions, suspends and revokes SOBPs under Sec. 18-151, and the county commissioners court may take on that role instead by interlocal agreement.