Valencia County, NM Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Valencia County zones adult amusement and entertainment establishments, defined broadly to include adult bookstores, adult theaters, adult video rental and arcade, adult photo amusement establishments, adult photo studios, and adult body oil or lotion demonstration parlors, as a conditional use in the C-2 Community Commercial District under County Code § 154.121(C)(1). Three spacing rules apply before the Planning and Zoning Department can process an application: the site must sit at least 2,000 feet from another adult amusement or entertainment use, at least 1,000 feet from the nearest conforming residential use, and at least 2,000 feet from any church or school.

Because the use is conditional rather than by-right, an applicant must file under the Type B application procedure of § 154.076 and satisfy the conditional-use review criteria in § 154.057, plus the site design review standards in §§ 154.035 through 154.040 that govern lighting, screening and buffering for every conditional use in the district. Outside the C-2 District, an adult amusement or entertainment use is not a listed use and is prohibited under § 154.121(D), which bars any use not specifically mentioned in the section and not allowed as a similar use.

A use lawfully established before the spacing rule applied but that no longer meets it is governed instead by the non-conforming use provisions of § 154.059. The Planning and Zoning Department administers the district and the Board of County Commissioners hears any appeal of a Type B decision. Staff must verify the 2,000-foot and 1,000-foot distances against every other qualifying adult use, church, school and residence within range before a conditional-use permit can issue.