West Valley City, UT Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

" Section 17-5-107 separately requires a general business license and a sexually oriented business license naming the specific category before operating. The five licensed categories under § 17-5-110 are outcall services, adult businesses (bookstores, video stores, motion picture theaters), seminude entertainment businesses, seminude dancing agencies, and service-oriented escort bureaus; a single premises may not hold more than one category of license except that outcall services and a seminude dancing agency may share a location. Section 17-5-108 exempts licensed sex therapists, medical practitioners, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, and state-licensed classroom educators from the chapter.

Every sexually oriented business employee, defined broadly in § 17-5-104(30) to include dancers, escorts, models, and managers, must first obtain a police identification "work card" from the West Valley City Police Department under § 17-5-111, which requires fingerprinting, a photograph, and proof of age, and which the Department can deny for prostitution, lewdness, fraud, or related convictions. The Director of Business Licensing must act on a completed license application within 30 days, extendable to 45 days for agency review, and may deny it under § 17-5-116 for disqualifying criminal history, unpaid taxes or fees, false statements, or a premises disapproved by the Health, Fire, Police, building, or zoning officials.

Licenses are non-transferable under § 17-5-118, and a transfer of more than 10 percent of a corporate or partnership licensee's ownership voids the license immediately. A revoked license bars the holder from re-licensing for one year (§ 17-5-135), and denial, suspension, or revocation may be appealed under the Title's general appeal procedure (§ 17-5-136).