Waukegan, IL Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 14-300 of the Waukegan City Code makes an adult establishment license mandatory for any adult entertainment establishment, defined in Section 14-301 to include adult cabarets, adult booths, adult stores, and adult theaters distinguished by an emphasis on specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities. Operating without the license, or outside the terms of an issued license, is unlawful under Section 14-300(b) and (c). The location rule in Section 14-307 is the city's core land-use control on the industry: no adult entertainment establishment may locate within 1,000 feet of the property boundaries of any school, day care center, cemetery, public park, forest preserve, public housing, place of religious worship, any other adult entertainment establishment, or any area zoned for residential use, and no more than one such establishment may occupy the same building or structure.

00 application and processing fee along with extensive background disclosures for owners, officers, and managers, and Section 14-303 routes the application to the Licensing, Building and Code Compliance, Police, Fire, and Planning and Zoning departments for review and inspection within 25 days, with the license administrator required to issue or deny within 30 days of a complete filing. Section 14-304 bars issuance if any identified person has a specified criminal act conviction within the past five years or is overdue on city taxes, fees, fines, or penalties. Licensees remain subject to unannounced inspection under Section 14-305, and interfering with a lawful inspection is itself grounds for suspension or revocation.