Automobile graveyard.
Any establishment or place of business which is maintained, used or operated for storing, keeping, buying or selling wrecked, scrapped, or dismantled motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts. Ten or more such vehicles constitute an automobile graveyard.
Industrial activities.
Industrial activities mean those customarily permitted only in zoned industrial areas. Industrial activities include manufacturing, warehousing, chemical processing and similar type operations. None of the following shall be considered industrial activities:
(1) 
Residences.
(2) 
Activities conducted in a building principally used as a residence.
(3) 
Commercial activities.
(4) 
Outdoor advertising structures.
(5) 
Agricultural, forestry, ranching, grazing, farming and similar activities, including but not limited to wayside fresh produce stands.
(6) 
Transient or temporary activities.
(7) 
Activities not visible from the main traveled way.
(8) 
Activities more than 1000 feet from the nearest edge of the right-of-way.
(9) 
Railroad tracks and minor sidings except in the area of a permanent facility for loading and unloading trains.
(10) 
Junkyards.
Junk.
Any old or scrap copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber, debris, waste, or junked, dismantled or wrecked automobiles or parts thereof, or iron, steel or other old or scrap material.
Junkyard.
Any establishment or place of business maintained, used or operated for storing, keeping, buying or selling junk, for processing scrap metal, or for the maintenance or operation of an automobile graveyard, including garbage dumps and sanitary landfills.
Unzoned industrial area.
An unzoned industrial area is an area not predominantly used for residential or commercial purposes which is within 1000 feet of the nearest edge of the highway right-of-way and which has not been zoned under authority of law but which is within a distance of 1000 feet, measured parallel to the highway, of one or more industrial activities on the same side of the highway.
Zoned industrial area.
For the purpose of control of junkyards, a zoned industrial area is that area which is zoned for industrial purposes and which is within 1000 feet of the nearest edge of the highway right-of-way.
(Ordinance 178 adopted 3/10/92; 1986 Code, sec. 9.50)
Any person who willfully violates any provision of the Highway Beautification Law, article IV of article 4477-9a, V.C.S. [V.T.C.A., Transportation Code, ch. 391], or any of the department’s regulations thereunder is subject to a fine in accordance with the general penalty provided in section 1.01.009 of this code. Each day of such willful violation is a separate offense.
(Ordinance 178 adopted 3/10/92; 1986 Code, sec. 9.55; Ordinance adopting 2017 Code)
The area controlled by the state department transportation under the Highway Beautification Law is that area within 1000 feet of the right-of-way of interstate and federal-aid primary highways. Junkyards located more than 1000 feet away from those highways and junkyards located on highways other than interstate and federal-aid primary highways are not required to comply with the law.
(Ordinance 178 adopted 3/10/92; 1986 Code, sec. 9.51)
(a) 
No junkyards may be started within 1000 feet of interstate or federal-aid primary highways except:
(1) 
Those located in zoned or unzoned industrial areas; and
(2) 
Those screened by natural objects, plantings, fences or other appropriate means so as not to be visible from the main traveled way of any interstate or federal-aid primary highway.
(b) 
Screening is to be installed and maintained by the junkyard owner and must meet the state’s screening standards.
(c) 
No junkyards may be started within 1000 feet of any church, church school, neighborhood, residential area, child day care center, kindergarten school, elementary school, junior high school, senior high school, vocational school, college or university associated school of any description, and city municipal facility.
(Ordinance 178 adopted 3/10/92; 1986 Code, sec. 9.52)
Junkyards which were in existence on June 29, 1972 and which are outside of zoned or unzoned industrial areas may continue at such locations until funds are available to the state to either screen the junkyards or to remove, relocate or dispose of them. Although more material may be stored or dumped within the existing boundaries of such junkyards, they may not be expanded within the controlled area to a height above nor to land beyond that which the junkyard encompassed on June 29, 1972, unless such expanded height or area is screened and maintained by the junkyard operator so that the junk in such expanded height or area is not visible to the motoring public traveling in a standard size automobile along the main traveled way of the controlled highway. All screening must meet the state’s screening standards.
(Ordinance 178 adopted 3/10/92; 1986 Code, sec. 9.53)
(a) 
Junkyard screening shall be so located that it will not interfere in any way with traffic or traffic signs along any highway or roadway. Unless it is constructed or planted by the state, it will not be located within the highway right-of-way. Screening may be accomplished by means of earthen berms, plants, fences, walls or other durable materials provided they are effective in blocking the view of such junkyard or automobile graveyard from the motoring public traveling in a standard size automobile along the main traveled way of the controlled highway. The height and density of such screening shall be such as to effectively block such view at all times. Screening shall be so designed and landscaped as to cause the junkyard or automobile graveyard area to be inconspicuous and pleasing to the motoring public in accordance with the purposes of the Highway Beautification Law.
(b) 
Before any screening is commenced, the plans and specifications therefor shall first be submitted by the owner of the junkyard to, and be approved by, the district engineer of the state department of transportation who serves the county in which such screening is to be placed.
(Ordinance 178 adopted 3/10/92; 1986 Code, sec. 9.54)