Phoenix requires its own scrap metal dealer license on top of state registration, and the section that imposes it never uses the words scrap metal. The state preempts cities from running their own registration and expressly leaves business licensing alone, which is the gap Phoenix operates in. So a yard here answers to two regimes at once, and several city sections repeat the state rules almost word for word.
Arizona registers scrap dealers with the Department of Public Safety and preempts cities from running their own registration. Phoenix licenses them anyway, and the state statute is what permits it. A.R.S. 44-1648 says "the power to register scrap metal dealers is preempted by this state," then adds that this "does not affect a city's, town's or county's power to enforce laws relating to business licensing," naming systems that include "background checks or identification and fingerprinting of the owners." Registration is preempted. Licensing isn't.
Phoenix City Code 19-3 makes it "unlawful for any person to operate a mercantile business within the corporate limits of the City without possessing a valid license." The section never mentions scrap metal. The obligation only appears when you follow the definition: 19-1(22) defines mercantile business as "an auctioneer, an auction house, a scrap metal dealer, or a secondhand dealer."
The fee table at 19-5 lists a scrap metal dealer at $180.00 to apply and $130.00 annually. The application packet requires a complete set of fingerprints for the applicant, each controlling person and the designated agent, forwarded by License Services to DPS and run against DPS and FBI criminal history records. Applicants also complete a zoning check with Planning and Development first, because the activity isn't permitted in every district.
Twenty sections, 19-60 to 19-79, cover scrap dealers specifically. Several track the state provisions closely. Section 19-63 repeats the twenty-four hour electronic report to the Department of Public Safety. Section 19-64 repeats the seven-day hold, same metals, same $100 threshold, same requirement that material stay "in the same size, shape and condition in which the scrap metal was received," and adds a rule against splitting a purchase to stay under $100. Section 19-61 repeats the record retention rule.
Others have no direct state counterpart: 19-75 on abandoned property, 19-76 requiring the premises be open for reasonable inspection, 19-78 on license suspension.
The Phoenix Zoning Ordinance handles scrap yards under the A-2 Industrial District. Section 628.B.9 permits "extensive outside uses: outside activities and storage of materials as the primary use; salvage and dismantling activities may be included."
The word junkyard is defined in section 202 as "the use of a lot or portion thereof for the storage, keeping, or abandonment of junk, dismantled automobiles, or other vehicles, or machinery, or parts thereof, including scrap metals, rags, or other scrap materials." It doesn't appear anywhere in 628. The ordinance regulates the activity as salvage and dismantling instead, and leaves salvage, salvage yard, junk, wrecking yard and scrap undefined in 202.
Screening is required close to housing and streets. Section 628.E.2.c(2): "any outside storage or use within one hundred feet of a residential district or any public street shall be screened by a six-foot-high solid fence or wall."
A recycling center isn't the same use. Under 647.A.2.n(1), the C-3 version may only sort and bale consumer recyclables and "shall not include shredding of automobile metal."
Phoenix adds a licensing layer to the state registration, so there are two things to check rather than one.
Yes. Phoenix City Code 19-3 makes it unlawful to operate a mercantile business in the city without a valid license, and 19-1(22) defines mercantile business to include a scrap metal dealer. The section imposing the requirement never uses the words scrap metal, which is why it is easy to miss.
Because registration and licensing are different things. A.R.S. 44-1648 says the power to register scrap metal dealers is preempted by the state, then adds that this does not affect a city's, town's or county's power to enforce laws relating to business licensing, naming systems that include background checks or identification and fingerprinting of owners.
The fee table at 19-5 lists a scrap metal dealer at $180.00 to apply and $130.00 annually. The application requires a complete set of fingerprints for the applicant, each controlling person and the designated agent, run against DPS and FBI criminal history records, plus a zoning check with Planning and Development first.
Several of them, closely. Section 19-63 repeats the twenty-four hour electronic report to DPS, 19-64 repeats the seven-day hold with the same metals and threshold and adds a rule against splitting a purchase to stay under it, and 19-61 repeats record retention. Others have no state counterpart, including 19-75 on abandoned property and 19-78 on license suspension.
In the A-2 Industrial District, under section 628.B.9, which permits extensive outside uses including salvage and dismantling. Any outside storage or use within one hundred feet of a residential district or a public street must be screened by a six-foot-high solid fence or wall. A C-3 recycling center is a different use and may not shred automobile metal.