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

4 declares that special entertainment uses have 'serious objectionable operational characteristics' and are prohibited in the Stedman zoning jurisdiction outright. 41 defines the covered uses in detail. An adult bookstore is any establishment with a substantial or significant portion of its stock in trade devoted to books, magazines or periodicals emphasizing specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas, or any store with a section devoted to such material. An adult motion picture theater is an enclosed building presenting films emphasizing the same specified sexual activities or anatomical areas for patrons.

Adult motels and hotels, defined as transient lodges showing unrated adult films in guest rooms, are separately defined and banned. 42 then lists the prohibited uses by name: adult bookstores; adult motion picture theaters housed in a permanent indoor structure; clubs, lodges or other commercial entertainment venues offering nude or semi-nude entertainment such as topless dancing; and eating or drinking establishments, including drive-in curb service, offering the same nude or semi-nude entertainment. These prohibitions were amended March 4, 1993 and remain in force through the ordinance's 2015 reprint.

Because the use is prohibited rather than licensed, there is no permit path, no conditional-use hearing before the Board of Adjustment, and no distance-based buffer to measure; the ordinance simply forecloses the use townwide.