Queen Creek, AZ Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

10 targets pawn shops, precious metals dealers doing business as "We Buy Gold" outlets, and non-chartered financial institutions such as check-cashing and title-loan storefronts. The Town Council adopted the section to stop these uses from clustering in one commercial corridor and to limit spillover effects on adjoining neighborhoods. 6-1's table of principal uses allowed in non-residential districts, meaning the Planning Commission and Town Council review the application at a public hearing rather than issuing it over the counter. Once permitted, the business still has to clear a 1,200-foot separation from every other pawn shop or non-chartered financial institution in Queen Creek, and a separate 1,200-foot separation from any existing public or charter school.

1 spells out how that distance is measured: a straight line from the outside wall of the proposed building to the outside wall of the existing use, ignoring any intervening buildings, streets, property lines or parcels in between. There is no townwide cap on the total number of pawn shops the ordinance names directly; the 1,200-foot buffer is the mechanism that does the limiting. Because the standard is measured wall-to-wall rather than lot-to-lot, a large commercial parcel can sometimes accommodate a new pawnbroker where a smaller one could not. The Zoning Ordinance carries a May 2026 update line on its cover page, so this spacing rule reflects the current text.