Skokie, IL Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 118-90 of the Skokie Village Code sets the spacing rules governing where an adult use may locate in the Village. No adult use may sit within 200 feet of a religious assembly, a school serving students primarily under 18 (including that school's open space and parking areas), a children's day care center, a park, a public recreation facility, or a library or archive. A second distance rule bars any two adult uses from locating within 500 feet of each other, measured from the outside walls of each use.

Both the 200 foot and 500 foot distances are measured the same way: from the nearest point on one lot line to the nearest point on the other lot line, in a straight line, ignoring any intervening buildings, topography or zoning district boundaries in between. The ordinance also forecloses a common workaround: an adult use can never be operated as a home occupation under Section 118-91, so a resident cannot run one out of a house regardless of the property's zoning district. Beyond spacing, the section also requires that advertisements, displays or other promotion of adult materials stay out of view from public sidewalks and walkways, and that windows, doorways and other building openings be covered or screened so no one outside can see into the interior, protecting passersby, including minors, from exposure to the business's interior or materials.