Smyrna, GA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Article V of Chapter 10 regulates adult bookstores, adult video stores, adult motion picture theaters and arcades, adult dancing establishments, erotic dance establishments and escort bureaus. Section 10-147 sets the location test. Distance is an airline measurement between the closest property lines of the parcels involved, and a parcel is any quantity of land capable of being described by location and boundary and used as a unit. The 1,000 foot buffer runs from residential parcels; from any parcel holding a church, school, governmental building, library, civic center, public park or playground; from another establishment regulated under the article; and from any other establishment selling alcoholic beverages. The site itself cannot be on less than three acres containing at least 100 feet of road frontage.

Spacing is only the first gate. Section 10-176 makes it unlawful to carry on any adult entertainment establishment without a permit. The applicant files with the city administrator after paying a nonrefundable fee, set by council resolution, to the city clerk (§ 10-178), and must appear in person (§ 10-180). The city has 30 days to investigate, after which Mayor and Council can grant the permit only on the findings listed in § 10-181, including no material misrepresentation and no disqualifying convictions. Under § 10-182(b), if current permits already meet the needs and desires of the inhabitants, no new permit issues. Permits renew year to year (§ 10-184), cannot be sold or assigned (§ 10-185), and a move needs a change of location fee plus approval from the city administrator and the zoning department (§ 10-149).

Erotic dance establishments carry extra operating rules in § 10-143. They can open only from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. Monday through Friday, and on Saturday from 8:00 a.m. through 2:55 a.m. on Sunday, and never on Christmas Day. Dancing must occur on a platform raised at least 18 inches, no dancing can occur closer than four feet to any patron, no liquor or controlled substance is allowed on the premises, and all areas must be lit to 3.5 foot candles per square foot. No one under 18 can be admitted or employed, and employees need approval from the licensing officer and must supply fingerprints (§ 10-148).