Passaic, NJ Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Chapter 173, adopted in 1975, defines a JUNK DEALER as a junk shop or junkyard keeper who uses or intends to use vehicles to buy, collect or otherwise commercially acquire junk, waste or discarded material such as old lumber, metal, machine parts or unregistered, unfit-for-highway motor vehicles, for storage in a junkyard or junk shop. Section 173-2 makes it unlawful to keep, maintain or operate a junkyard or junk shop, or to engage in the business of a junk dealer, anywhere in the city without first obtaining a license.

Applicants file an original plus four copies of a sworn application with the City Clerk under § 173-3, and under § 173-6 notice must go to all property owners within 200 feet of the site at least five days before a hearing, at which any party may appear. Section 173-7 sets the substantive prerequisites for licensure: an eight-foot painted mason or metal screening fence, lighting that doesn't shine onto adjacent property, no dust or excess noise beyond the lot, contents not visible from adjacent dwellings at street level, no combustible storage without Fire Department-compliant precautions, no city tax delinquency, and no applicant conviction for larceny or receiving stolen goods.

Section 173-8 sets a nonrefundable $100 application fee plus a $250 license fee, running July 1 to June 30 annually and non-transferable between operators. These same § 173-7 conditions remain binding after licensure under § 173-9, and noncompliance is cause for the City Council to suspend or revoke the license under § 173-10.