Junkyards

Junkyards and automobile graveyards along county roads or secondary state highways in Washington County are defined and governed by County Ordinance No. 82-29. 

Junkyard means an establishment which is maintained for storing, keeping, buying, or selling junk, or for the maintenance or operation of an automobile graveyard. They can also include garbage dumps and sanitary fills. 

Junk means old or scrapped copper, brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, trash, rubber debris, and waste, or junked, dismantled, or wrecked automobiles, or parts thereof, or iron, steel, and other old or scrapped ferrous or nonferrous materials.

Automobile graveyard means any establishment which is used for storing, keeping, buying, or selling, of five (5) or more wrecked, scrapped, ruined, or dismantled motor vehicles.  To be considered an automobile graveyard, vehicles must be inoperable.

All junkyards and automobile graveyards require a Certificate of Operation from the Environmental Affairs Office and appropriate screening if it is within 1000 feet of a county road or secondary state highway right-of-way. 

For the complete county ordinance regulating junkyards and automobile graveyards, go to  Municode.  See chapter 12, Roads and Highways, Article IV, Junkyards and Automobile Graveyards.