Onslow County, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Onslow County Code of Ordinances Sec. 8-205 sets a 1,000-foot buffer for both "adult businesses" and "sexually oriented businesses," defined in Sec. 8-204 to include adult arcades, adult bookstores, adult motion picture theaters, adult theaters and massage parlors. No such business may locate in a building within 1,000 feet in any direction of a building used as a dwelling, a building housing another adult or sexually oriented business, a church, synagogue or other house of worship, a public school or state-licensed day care center, or any lot with a public playground, public swimming pool or public park.

Sec. 8-201 confirms the article applies to every building, lot, tract or parcel within the county exclusive of the jurisdiction of any incorporated municipality, and it expressly notes federal land under the Navy, Camp Lejeune and MCAS New River lies within its described reach even though the county cannot enforce there. A business lawfully operating on October 3, 1994 that became noncompliant is a protected nonconforming use for up to two years, but loses that status if two or more such uses fall within 1,000 feet of each other; the first-established business keeps conforming status and later ones become nonconforming.

A nonconforming use discontinued for 180 days or more may not be reestablished, and an existing conforming adult business is not rendered nonconforming merely because a dwelling, church, school or park later moves within 1,000 feet of it. Sec. 8-203 makes clear these spacing rules do not override stricter zoning setbacks already in place; the more restrictive rule controls.