[Adopted 2-3-2021 by Ord. No. 20-30[1]]
[1]
Editor’s Note: This ordinance superseded former Art. IV, Junk and Secondhand Goods Dealers, adopted by Ord. of 6-12-1969, as amended by Ord. of 5-20-1987.
(a) 
The City or Town Council of any city or town is authorized to provide by ordinance for the issuing and revocation at pleasure of licenses to all persons selling, purchasing, bartering and dealing in junk, old metals and any other second-hand articles, and to all persons establishing, operating, or maintaining automobile junkyards, subject to any conditions and restrictions and for a term not exceeding one year. The fees for the licenses of shopkeeper, foundryperson, and automobile junkyard are established in Appendix C, Section 1, of this Code of Ordinances. The Town Council fixes a penalty for carrying on such a business without a license, or in violation of any ordinance or regulation made as authorized in this article, not exceeding for any one offense a fine of $500 or imprisonment not exceeding six months.
(b) 
Each person purchasing or receiving old or used metals other than junked automobiles or automobile parts shall maintain a record of each purchase or receipt. The record shall include the date of the transaction; the name, address, telephone number, and signature of the person from whom the old or used metals are purchased or received; a description of the old or used metals; and the price paid for the old or used metals. The records so kept shall be produced at the request of law enforcement officials.
(a) 
The Town Council before granting a license under this article to keep a shop or storehouse for the reception of any junk, old metals, or other second-hand articles or to establish, operate, or maintain an automobile junkyard, in any location not lawfully occupied for that purpose at the time of the application for that license, shall hold a public hearing, notice of which shall be posted at least seven days but not more than 14 days prior to the hearing in not less than two public places in that city or town and in a newspaper of general circulation in that city or town where the shop, storehouse, or junkyard is to be established, operated, or maintained. Before the local licensing authority posts or publishes a notice of a hearing, the local licensing authority shall collect from the applicant for the license a fee of $10, plus the cost of posting and publishing the notice.
(b) 
No license shall be granted under this article to the keeper of any shop or storehouse for the reception of any junk, old metals, or other second-hand articles or to a person establishing, operating, or maintaining an automobile junkyard, in any location not lawfully occupied for that purpose at the time of the application for the license, where the owners or occupants of the greater part of the land within 200 feet of that building or place file with the board, City or Town Council, respectively, having jurisdiction to grant licenses, their objection to the granting of the license. This subsection does not apply to any applicant who is the keeper of a shop or storehouse, or automobile junkyard, that is being acquired under eminent domain proceedings, who is applying for licensing within R.I.G.L. § 5-21-1 within the same city or town in which he or she was formerly licensed.
As used in this section, "automobile junkyard" means a place where one or more unserviceable, discarded, worn out or junked automobiles, whether or not the automobiles are registered with the state department of transportation, division of motor vehicles, or bodies, engines, tires, parts or accessories thereof are gathered together.
No license shall be granted for an automobile junkyard under this section unless:
(1) 
It is to be operated and maintained entirely within a building;
(2) 
It is to be operated and maintained exclusively for the purpose of salvaging the value as scrap of the material collected, as opposed to reselling parts to be used for the purpose for which they were originally manufactured, and is to be located in a built-up industrial area, or contiguous to a railroad siding, or on or contiguous to docking facilities; or
(3) 
It is:
a. 
More than 1,000 feet from the nearest edge of any highway on the interstate or primary system;
b. 
More than 600 feet from any other state highway;
c. 
More than 300 feet from any park, bathing beach, playground, school, church, or cemetery and is not within ordinary view from those places; and
d. 
Screened from view either by natural objects or well-constructed and properly maintained fences at least six feet high acceptable to that city or town and in accordance with regulations as promulgated by the Director of Public Works and as specified on the license.
(a) 
Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter except § 5-21-6,[1] it is a misdemeanor to operate or maintain an automobile junkyard unless:
(1) 
It is to be operated and maintained entirely within a building;
(2) 
It is to be operated and maintained exclusively for the purpose of salvaging the value as scrap of the material collected, as opposed to reselling parts to be used for the purpose for which they were originally manufactured, and is to be located in a built-up commercial or industrial area, or contiguous to a railroad siding, or on or contiguous to docking facilities; or
(3) 
It is:
a. 
More than 1,000 feet from the nearest edge of any highway on the interstate or primary system;
b. 
More than 600 feet from any other state highway;
c. 
More than 300 feet from any park, bathing beach, playground, school, church, or cemetery and is not within ordinary view from those places; and
d. 
Is screened from view either by natural objects or well-constructed and properly maintained fences at least six feet high.
e. 
It is the duty of the State Police and the police of the cities and towns to enforce this section, and any person violating this section shall, upon conviction for the first offense, be punished by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $100, or by imprisonment for not less than 10 days nor more than 30 days, or by both the fine and imprisonment, and shall for a second or subsequent conviction be fined not less than $100 nor more than $500, or by imprisonment for not less than 30 days nor more than six months, or by both the fine and imprisonment.
[1]
Editor's Note: Refers to § 5-21-6 of Chapter 21, Second-Hand Dealers, of the General Laws of Rhode Island.
The provisions of Section 8-127(1), (2), and (3)b and c, and Section 8-128(a)(1), (2), and (3)b and c do not apply to any automobile junkyard in existence and having a valid license issued pursuant to R.I.G.L. § 5-21-1 on May 6, 1966.
Any dealer licensed under this article to sell second-hand electrical appliances is required to provide the purchaser of the electrical appliance with a three-day warranty of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose as defined by Title 6a of the General Laws of Rhode Island. The dealer is not allowed to exclude that warranty by expressions like "as is," "with all faults," or other language that, in common understanding, calls the buyer's attention to the exclusion of warranties.