Brookhaven, NY Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Chapter 42, adopted in 1987, requires a Town Clerk license for anyone buying and selling junk, running a scrap metal processing facility, or dismantling vehicles for parts within Brookhaven (§ 42-2). The sworn application must disclose whether the applicant was convicted of larceny or knowingly receiving stolen property, or violated Article 6 of the General Business Law, since January 1, 1933; list every premises used to store junk, current and planned for the next 12 months, with the zoning classification of each; confirm compliance with Chapter 85 zoning; state the applicant will not employ anyone under 16 in the business; and give the date operations began.

The Town Clerk investigates the application and, under § 42-3, can revoke an issued license for improper conduct only after a hearing on at least 48 hours' written notice before a panel of the Town Attorney, the Commissioner of Planning, Environment and Development, and the Commissioner of Public Safety; a majority vote revokes, and the licensee can appeal to the Town Board. Section 42-4 recognizes three license types: junk dealer, scrap processor (which also authorizes junk dealing) and vehicle dismantler (which authorizes both). Site requirements under § 42-5 include Planning Board site plan approval when Chapter 85 requires it, a certificate of occupancy or zoning compliance, an eight-foot solid fence around every side of the premises, and, for vehicle dismantling, a dismantling pad meeting standards set by the Director of the Division of Environmental Protection.

Nonconforming junkyards are capped at one licensee per parcel unless continuously operated since before October 30, 1978, and in the L-2 Zoning Category only one licensee is allowed per five acres of lot area. Licenses run from July 1 through June 30 each year (§ 42-6), and a licensee may only operate at the address stated on the license (§ 42-7).