Temple, TX Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Zoning status
- Specific/conditional use, limited districts
- Standard phase-out
- Two-year nonconforming-use amortization
- Extension authority
- Zoning Board of Adjustment, by application
- Separate rules
- Detailed regs in Ordinance No. 99-2633
Summary
Temple's Unified Development Code confines sexually oriented businesses to specific zoning districts and treats any existing outside those districts as a nonconforming use subject to a two-year closure timeline.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment may permit an extension of the two-year amortization period for nonconforming use as a sexually oriented business under the terms of the City’s regulations governing sexually oriented businesses.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Reformat).
Full Breakdown
The UDC lists "sexually oriented business" as a specific use in its zoning use table, allowed only in certain districts. One located where it isn't permitted is a nonconforming use, and under UDC Sec. 9.2 it is normally subject to the standard nonconforming-use amortization period. The Zoning Board of Adjustment can extend the two-year amortization period for a sexually oriented business specifically, but only after the operator documents its unrecovered pre-1991 (or pre-annexation-notice) investment, net profits during the two years, and closure or moving costs. The UDC notes that detailed definitions and operating regulations for these businesses are set separately in City Ordinance No. 99-2633, not in the UDC itself.
Violations & Fines
Operating a sexually oriented business past its nonconforming-use amortization deadline, outside a district where it's a permitted use, without a Zoning Board of Adjustment extension is a code violation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a sexually oriented business locate anywhere in Temple?
What happens if an SOB becomes a nonconforming use?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Temple
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Adult Entertainment in Nearby Cities
How other cities in Bell County handle adult entertainment.