Spotsylvania County, VA Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

§ 23-4.5.7(c)(1) permits adult oriented businesses only in the I-1 and I-2 industrial districts, and only as a special use requiring board of supervisors approval under § 23-4.5.2. No permit may be authorized "less than a distance of one thousand (1,000) feet" from a long list of protected uses, including any "residential district boundary or residential use," child day care centers, public or private schools and their play areas, colleges, public parks and playgrounds, libraries, museums, cultural centers, historic districts, churches or other places of worship, any other adult business, any federal, state, or county government building, nursing homes, hotels and motels, and lodging houses. Spacing distances are measured from all property lines of the regulated use, from the outward boundary of any residential district, and from the property lines of any of the listed protected uses.

Beyond spacing, § 23-4.5.7(c)(3) bars operation "between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. on any particular day." Operational standards in § 23-4.5.7(c)(4) require adult merchandise to be kept in a separate area inaccessible to anyone under eighteen, require every owner, manager, and employee to be at least eighteen, require the operator to provide lighting sufficient for "clear visual surveillance" at all entrances, exits, and parking areas, bar any obstruction of a direct line of sight into a viewing area, and require at least one employee with a direct line of sight to any viewing area whenever a patron is present.

Because the I-1 and I-2 districts sit within Spotsylvania County's own zoning map, this spacing scheme has no application to the independent City of Fredericksburg next door, which sets its own adult-business rules under its separate code.