Union, NY Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)
Key Facts
- Residential buffer
- 500 feet from any building with dwelling or rooming units
- Other buffer
- 1,000 feet from church, school, park, playground, arcade
- Spacing between adult businesses
- 1,000 feet
- Covered uses
- Five listed adult business types
- Measurement
- Straight line, ignoring intervening structures
- Relocation
- Counts as establishing a new business
Summary
In the Town of Union outside the Villages of Endicott and Johnson City, adult bookstores, cabarets, mini-motion-picture theaters, motion-picture arcades and motion-picture theaters cannot be established within 500 feet of a residential building or within 1,000 feet of a church, school, park, playground, amusement arcade or another adult business.
B. Prohibition. ... (1) No person shall cause or permit the establishment of any of the following adult entertainment businesses, as defined in this chapter hereof within 500 feet of any building containing residential dwelling or rooming units or within 1,000 feet of any church, school, park, playground, amusement arcade or existing adult entertainment businesses: adult bookstore, adult cabaret, adult mini-motion-picture theater, adult motion-picture arcade or adult motion-picture theater. ... C. Measurement of distances. For the purposes of this section, measurements shall be made in a straight line, without regard to the intervening structures or objects, from the nearest portion of the building or structure used as a part of the premises for an adult entertainment business to the nearest property lines of a building containing a residential dwelling or rooming unit, a church, school or amusement arcade or to the nearest boundary of a park or playground. D. Penalties for offenses. Any person violating any provisions of this section shall, upon conviction, be punishable as provided in Town and Village Law.
Full Breakdown
Section 300-40.1 of the Town of Union zoning chapter is a location prohibition. Its stated purpose is to keep adult entertainment businesses away from residentially zoned areas, schools, churches, parks, playgrounds and amusement arcades so as to minimize criminal activity and a blighting effect on surrounding neighborhoods.
Subsection B(1) lists the five covered businesses: adult bookstore, adult cabaret, adult mini-motion-picture theater, adult motion-picture arcade and adult motion-picture theater. None can be established within 500 feet of any building containing residential dwelling or rooming units. None can be established within 1,000 feet of any church, school, park, playground, amusement arcade or existing adult entertainment business. The last item means two adult businesses cannot cluster inside the 1,000-foot distance.
Subsection B(2) defines establishment broadly. It includes opening the business as a new business, relocating it, or converting an existing business location to one of the listed uses, so a move triggers the same test as a new opening. Subsection B(3) adds a visibility rule: no adult entertainment business can be conducted in a way that lets anyone observe material depicting, describing or relating to specified sexual activities or specified anatomical areas from any public way or from any property not registered as an adult entertainment business. It reaches any display, decoration, sign, show window, screen or other opening.
Subsection C sets the measuring method. Distances run in a straight line, without regard to intervening structures or objects, from the nearest portion of the building or structure used as part of the adult business premises. The line ends at the nearest property line of a residential building, church, school or amusement arcade, or at the nearest boundary of a park or playground.
Violations & Fines
Section 300-40.1(D) says a person violating the section is, on conviction, punishable as provided in Town and Village Law. The zoning chapter's general penalty clause, § 300-60.7, sets a fine up to $250, up to 15 days in jail, or both, with each day a separate violation and enforcement costs chargeable to the property owner.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far must an adult business be from homes in the Town of Union?
Does relocating an existing adult business trigger the spacing test?
Which businesses does the Union rule cover?
Can passersby see into an adult business in Union?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Union
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