Washington County, MD Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Article 12 of the Washington County Zoning Ordinance, covering the BG Business, General District, treats adult-oriented businesses as Special Exception Uses under Section 12.2(f) through (h), meaning none of them are permitted by right anywhere in the county; each requires Board of Zoning Appeals authorization after a public hearing. Section 12.2(f) covers adult bookstores, Section 12.2(g) covers adult mini-motion picture theaters, and Section 12.2(h) is a catchall for any other facility providing adult entertainment.

Each subsection carries an identical 1,000-foot spacing wall: the establishment cannot be located within 1,000 feet of any residential district, within 1,000 feet of a place of worship or school, within 1,000 feet of any restaurant, eating establishment, hotel or motel, within 1,000 feet of any theater, club or lodge, or within 1,000 feet of any other adult bookstore, adult mini-motion picture theater, or other adult entertainment facility. Because the spacing runs both ways between adult uses themselves, a single approved location effectively locks out a 1,000-foot radius around it for any competitor.

An applicant must first secure a special exception from the Board, which reviews the site plan, confirms the 1,000-foot buffers against every listed use category, holds a public hearing, and can deny the request if it is inconsistent with the BG District's purpose or would adversely affect adjacent properties, per the closing standard in Section 12.2(l). Given the district-only siting and the stacked distance requirements, most of the county's commercially zoned land is functionally unavailable to a new adult business, leaving only isolated BG-zoned parcels that clear all six buffers at once.