Sandoval County, NM Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

Sandoval County has no separate pawnbroker licensing ordinance; pawn shops are regulated exclusively through zoning. Section 12(2)(C)'s Land Use Matrix for the county's four urban commercial districts lists 'Pawn shop' as not permitted in the Commercial Office (C-O), Neighborhood Commercial (C-1), and Community Commercial (C-2) columns, and allows it only as a conditional use in the Major Commercial (C-3) column. C-3 is the county's largest-scale commercial classification, intended under Section 12(2)(B) to 'accommodate development of large-scale planned commercial complexes providing goods and services to a community-wide and regional trade area,' with individual users typically exceeding 200,000 gross square feet of building area.

Because a pawn shop is not a permitted use anywhere in the county's commercial zoning, an operator must apply for a conditional use permit reviewed by the Zoning Commission under Section 17 before the County Board authorizes the use on a specific C-3 parcel; the county can attach site-specific conditions to that approval addressing hours, parking, screening, or other operating requirements. Locating a pawn shop in the C-O, C-1, or C-2 districts, or opening one in C-3 without conditional use approval, is not an authorized use under the zoning code.