[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees
of the Village of Depew 12-27-1971 by L.L. No. 2-1971 as Ch. 15 of the 1971
Code; amended in its entirety 8-2-1988 by L.L. No. 4-1988. Subsequent amendments
noted where applicable.]
A clean, wholesome, attractive environment is
declared to be of importance to the health and safety of the inhabitants
and the safeguarding of their material rights against unwarrantable
invasion and in addition, such an environment is deemed essential
to the maintenance and continued development of the economy of the
Village and the general welfare of its citizens. It is further declared
that the unrestrained accumulation of junk motor vehicles and/or other
materials is a hazard to such health, safety and welfare of citizens
of the Village necessitating the regulation, restraint and elimination
thereof. At the same time, it is recognized that the maintenance of
junkyards, as hereinafter defined, is a useful and necessary business
and ought to be encouraged when not in conflict with the express purposes
of this section.
[Amended 5-12-2014 by L.L. No. 2-2014]
No person shall, within the limits of the Village,
engage in or carry on the business of junk dealer or otherwise engage
in or carry on the business of collecting, buying, selling or otherwise
dealing in junk, rags, old rope, bottles, bones, old carton boxes,
rubber, or any other article or thing, except old metal, without first
having obtained a license therefor as is hereinafter provided.
A.
BUSINESS PREMISES or PREMISES
JUNK
JUNK DEALER
JUNKYARD
As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise
requires, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
The area of a junkyard as described in a junk dealer's license
or application for license, as provided for in this chapter.
Old iron, steel, brass, copper, tin, lead, or other base
metals; old cordage, ropes, rags; fibers, or fabrics; old rubber;
old bottles or other glass; bones; wastepaper and other waste or discarded
material which might be prepared to be used again in some form; and
any or all of the foregoing; and motor vehicles, no longer used as
such, to be used for scrap metal or stripping of parts; but "junk"
shall not include materials or objects accumulated by a person as
by-products, waste, or scraps from the operation of his or her own
business or materials or objects held and used by a manufacturer as
an integral part of his or her own manufacturing processes.
A person who operates a junkyard, as defined herein, within
the Village.[1]
A yard, lot, or place, covered or uncovered, outdoors or
in an enclosed building, containing junk as defined above, upon which
occurs one or more acts of buying, keeping, dismantling, processing,
selling, or offering for sale any such junk, in whole units or by
parts, for a business or commercial purpose, whether or not the proceeds
from such act or acts are to be used for charity.
[1]
Editor's Note: The former definition of "junk peddler," which
immediately followed this definition, was repealed 5-12-2014 by L.L.
No. 2-2014.
B.
Any person who shall engage in the business of buying
and selling old metal only shall not be subject to the provisions
of this chapter but shall be subject to the provisions of Article
6 of the General Business Law.
A.
Any person desiring to procure a license as herein
provided, shall file with the Village Clerk a written application
upon a blank form prepared and furnished by the Village. Such application
shall contain the name and residence of the applicant if an individual
or the names of the principal officers and their residences if the
applicant is a corporation or association. Such application shall
also describe in detail the character of the business in which he
or she desires to engage and the kind of materials he or she desires
to collect, buy, sell or otherwise deal in. It shall also state the
following:
(1)
Whether the applicant is licensed to sell old metal
in accordance with Article 6 of the General Business Law.
(2)
The length of time such applicant has resided in the
Village of Depew, New York, his or her place or places of previous
employment, whether he or she has been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor
and, if so, what offense and in what court.
[Amended 5-12-2014 by L.L. No. 2-2014]
(3)
The premises where such business is to be located
or carried on, giving street and number.
(4)
Whether the applicant had either alone or with someone else previously been a junk dealer as defined in § 132-3.
[Amended 5-12-2014 by L.L. No. 2-2014]
(5)
Such other information that may be required by the
Board of Trustees.
(6)
Such application shall be signed and certified before
a notary public or other officer authorized to administer oaths.
B.
Such application shall be accompanied by a bond to the Village of Depew, approved as to form by the Village Attorney, in the penal sum of $5,000 for a junk dealer, with a sufficient surety or securities or sufficient collateral security, conditioned for the due observance during the term of the license of any and all provisions of this chapter and Code which are now in force or may hereafter be adopted by the Board of Trustees respecting the collection, buying, selling or otherwise dealing in articles enumerated in § 132-2.
C.
A background check must be performed and approved by the Chief of
Police, or his designee, before a license will be issued.
[Added 5-12-2014 by L.L. No. 2-2014]
Upon the filing of the application and the bond as provided in the preceding section, and payment to the Village of the license fee hereinafter provided, the Licensing Officer may issue to the applicant a license to engage in business as provided in § 132-2. No license shall be refused except for a specific reason and for the protection of public safety, good order or morals. All licenses shall be numbered in the order in which they are issued and shall state clearly the location of the junk business, the date of issuance and expiration of the license and the name and address of the licensee. No applicant to whom a license has been refused shall make further application until a period of at least six months shall have elapsed since the last previous rejection unless he can show that the reason for such rejection no longer exists.
[Amended 5-12-2014 by L.L. No. 2-2014]
Every junk dealer as defined in § 132-3 shall pay an annual license fee of $100 for each established place of business. All licenses shall be issued as of June 1 and shall continue in force until May 31 next succeeding the date of issuance thereof, unless sooner revoked by the Licensing Officer. Each junk dealer while exercising his or her license shall carry his or her license and exhibit the same whenever requested to do so by a police officer or other official of the Village. No license shall be used by any person other than the original licensee, and any holder of such license who permits it to be used by any other person, and any person who uses such license granted to any other person, shall be guilty of a violation of this chapter. Whenever a license shall be lost or destroyed without fault on the part of the holder or his or her agent or employee, a duplicate license in lieu thereof under the original application and bond may be issued by the Licensing Officer in his or her discretion.
[Amended 5-12-2014 by L.L. No. 2-2014]
Every license which shall be granted in pursuance
of this chapter shall designate the place of business in or from which
the junk dealer receiving such license shall be authorized to carry
on such business. In case any licensee shall desire to remove his
or her place of business from the place designated in the license,
he or she shall immediately give notice to the Licensing Officer of
such intention and have the same approved and endorsed upon such license
before so doing.
A.
No junk dealer shall carry on the business at or from
any other place than the one designated in the license therefor nor
shall be or she continue to carry on business after such license has
been revoked or has expired.
[Amended 5-12-2014 by L.L. No. 2-2014]
B.
No junk dealer shall purchase any article enumerated in § 132-2 from any minor under the age of 16 years or from any person or persons who, he or she has reason to believe, is not the owner of the article offered for sale or at any time except during regular business hours.
[Amended 5-12-2014 by L.L. No. 2-2014]
C.
No person licensed under the provisions of this chapter
shall, during the continuance of such license use, exercise or carry
on the business or trade of a pawnbroker nor shall any pawnbroker
receive a license under the provisions of this chapter.
D.
No license as junk dealer shall be granted to any
person who shall have been convicted of a violation of this chapter
within five years of the date of application; or who shall have been
a member of an association or an officer of a corporation which shall
have been so convicted; also any person who shall have been convicted
of a felony or of knowingly receiving stolen goods or a member of
any association or partnership or any officer of any corporation which
shall have been so convicted.
[Amended 5-12-2014 by L.L. No. 2-2014]
E.
Operations of junkyards shall be conducted in such
a manner as to not disturb the peace and quiet of the neighborhood.
Premises shall be kept in a reasonably tidy condition and shall be
properly screened or fenced from view.
F.
All operations shall be enclosed with a suitable opaque
fence approved as to type, height, and construction by the Village
Board of Trustees. Material shall not be stacked inside the fence
so as to be visible from any street or public thoroughfare.
The Licensing Officer may, at any time, for
such cause as he or she deems sufficient, revoke or suspend any license
granted under the provisions of this chapter as provided by law.[1] Whenever any license shall be so revoked, no refund of
any unearned portion thereof shall be made and no license shall be
granted to any person whose license has been so revoked within a period
of five years from the date of such revocation.
A.
Keeping of records. Every junk dealer shall keep,
in such form as the Chief of Police may prescribe, and written in
ink or indelible pencil, a daily record of all articles purchased,
the name, residence, age and occupation of the person from whom each
article was purchased, and the name of the employer, if any, of such
person; also the day and hour of such purchase and the price paid.
The records shall be open to inspection at all reasonable times by
any police officer or other authorized official of the Village. No
entry in such records shall be changed, erased, obliterated or defaced.
B.
Reports to Police Department. Every junk dealer, upon
being served with a written notice so to do, by an officer of the
Police Department, shall report to the Chief of Police, on blank forms
to be furnished by the Police Department, an accurate description
of all goods, articles or things purchased or received by him or her
in the course of business as a junk dealer at such time and during
such period of time specified in the notice, stating the amount paid
for and the name, residence and general description of the person
from whom such goods, articles or things were received.
C.
Lost or stolen goods. If any goods, articles or things
whatsoever shall be advertised in any newspaper having general circulation
in the Village as having been lost or stolen, and the same, or any
answering the description advertised or any part or portion thereof,
shall be or come into the possession of any junk dealer, he or she
shall give information thereof in writing to the Chief of Police,
and state from whom the same was received. Any junk dealer who shall
have or receive any goods, articles or things lost or stolen, or alleged
or supposed to have been lost or stolen, shall exhibit the same on
demand to any police officer or other official of the Village.
[Amended 5-12-2014 by L.L. No. 2-2014]
