Southampton, NY Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Added in 2001, § 330-162.17 regulates every category the Zoning Code defines as adult entertainment, including adult bookstores, adult clubs, adult massage parlors, adult novelty shops, adult theaters and adult video stores. The lot line of an adult establishment cannot be within 1,500 feet of the lot line of another adult establishment anywhere in the unincorporated Town, and cannot be within 1,500 feet of the lot line of a sensitive receptor, defined elsewhere in § 330-5 to include hospitals, libraries, museums, religious institutions, schools, parks and playgrounds.

Section 330-162.17E separately bars any use within 1,500 feet of a church, school or park. No lot may host more than one adult establishment, and floor area is capped at 2,000 square feet regardless of district. Section 330-162.17.1 exempts several categories from the whole scheme: commercial art galleries earning their primary revenue from art sales, museums, licensed business and trade schools, state-licensed medical and holistic practices, licensed sex therapy, barbershops and beauty salons limited to scalp, face, neck or shoulder massage, athletic training facilities, and health clubs that do not derive their primary revenue from administering massages.

Section 330-162.17.2 sets the test for whether a business counts as an adult establishment at all: it looks at floor area, stock-in-trade, revenue, advertising and general use devoted to adult entertainment, and treats 40% or more on any one of those measures as conclusive proof the use is regulated. A use that stays under those measures, or fits an exemption, is never subject to the spacing and size limits at all.