Winter Haven, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Winter Haven Code of Ordinances Article X, adopted by Ord. No. 92-29 in 1992, requires anyone operating an adult bookstore, adult theater, special cabaret, physical culture establishment, or adult photographic studio inside city limits to first obtain an adult entertainment permit from the city manager under Sec. 9-253. Applicants file three sworn copies of an application with the city clerk's office, submit fingerprints and identification, and pay a nonrefundable application fee; the planning department checks compliance with the locational standards in Sec. 9-255 while the police chief investigates any of the specified criminal acts listed in Sec.

9-252, covering Florida sexual battery, prostitution, lewdness, bigamy, incest, and obscenity offenses. Under Sec. 9-255, no covered business may locate within 750 feet of land zoned residential anywhere in Winter Haven, including residential portions of Planned Development districts, or within 500 feet of a church, school, licensed child care facility, or public recreation area; a further 500-foot buffer separates any two regulated businesses from each other, measured property line to property line in a straight line rather than by travel route. The city manager must grant or deny an application within 21 days and must deny it if an applicant was convicted of a specified criminal act within the last two years for a misdemeanor or five years for a felony, regardless of whether the conviction is on appeal.

The annual permit fee is $750 under Sec. 9-257, and permits expire one year after issuance and require renewal filings at least 30 days before expiration. Establishments that predated the 1992 ordinance had until November 9, 1997 to conform to the spacing rules or stop operating. 081, Florida Statutes.