Pembroke Pines, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

521 finds that pawn shops have "serious objectionable characteristics" that can contribute to blighting a neighborhood when concentrated in business and residential areas, and regulates them through distance requirements rather than a separate city license. A new pawn shop cannot locate within 1,000 feet of another pawn shop, an establishment where alcoholic beverages are sold or consumed, any religious institution, or any public, private, or parochial kindergarten, nursery, elementary, middle, or high school, or day care center (A)(2). Separately, it is unlawful to establish a pawn shop anywhere within the city if the site sits within 500 feet of a residentially zoned district (A)(3).

The 1,000-foot and 500-foot measurements run as an actual or imaginary straight line, on the ground or in the air, from any part of the building or lot where the pawn shop sits to any part of the building or lot of the protected use (A)(4). Because Florida law leaves general occupational licensing to the state and county, this section is the city's substantive control point for where a pawn shop can operate at all; a location that fails either distance test cannot be approved regardless of what business tax receipt the operator holds. The section, and the broader use-specific standards subchapter it sits in, were adopted by Ordinance 2021-02 in March 2021.