Upon receipt of an application for the local permit or certificate of approval, the governing body or zoning commission of the municipality in which the junk business or junk yard is proposed to be established or maintained, shall hold a public hearing upon the application, which hearing shall take place not less than two weeks nor more than four weeks from the date of the application. Notice of the hearing shall be given the applicant and be published once in a newspaper having a circulation in the municipality not less than seven days before the date thereof.

No permit or certificate of approval shall be granted unless the governing body or zoning commission, as the case may be, shall, after the hearing, find that no unreasonable depreciation of surrounding property would ensue from the establishment or maintenance of the motor vehicle junk yard or business and that the best interests of the community require the operation of the yard or business at the location designated. The proximity of schools, churches or other places of public gatherings, the sufficiency in number of other similar places in the vicinity and the suitability of the applicant to receive the license, shall be taken into consideration in considering the application.

Each applicant shall pay a fee of ten dollars, the costs of publication and expenses of the hearing to the treasurer of the municipality.