Warren, MI Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

01(s) permits a sexually oriented business, defined in Chapter 6 as an adult bookstore or video store, adult cabaret, adult motel, adult motion picture theater, semi-nude model studio, sexual device shop or sexual encounter center, only in a location satisfying three distance rules. The site must be more than 750 feet from the lot line of any residential zoning district (R-1-A through R-5 and mixed-residential PUDs) or the Downtown District, more than 1,000 feet from schools, licensed child day cares, public libraries, houses of worship and public parks or recreation areas, and the business structure itself must sit more than 1,000 feet from any other sexually oriented business structure.

Distances are measured in a straight line, ignoring intervening structures. Sexually oriented businesses are also barred outright from the Downtown District and the Van Dyke TIFA Authority District. Separately, Code Chapter 6, Article X requires both a business license and an individual employee license from the city clerk before anyone may operate or work at such a business (Section 6-284); the clerk must act on a complete application within 20 days, and licenses expire annually on March 31 (Section 6-285, 6-289). The city clerk may issue a written letter of intent to suspend either license for up to 30 days for a knowing violation of the article, with a hearing available before an independent hearing officer (Section 6-297). The initial business license fee is $110.