Johnson County Manager's Office, Special Permits

Itinerant Sales Permit (vendors and transient merchants, unincorporated Johnson County)

Section 50-178 of the Johnson County Code, reproduced on the county's Itinerant Sales Activity and Auctions page, states that no person shall conduct itinerant sales as a vendor or transient merchant, or operate an auction, within the unincorporated area of the county except as permitted by the article, and Section 50-179 requires a permit. A vendor includes anyone selling food, beverages, goods or merchandise from a stand, a motor vehicle or on foot, and a transient merchant is a person operating a temporary business from a temporary or nonpermanent location. Section 50-177(7) excludes the sale of goods from any business location where the property is zoned for such sales. Under Section 50-181 the applicant must own or occupy the site or have the owner's written consent, file a site map, and file a statement from the county sheriff about any fraud or consumer protection convictions. Under Section 50-182 sales run only between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., a vendor or transient merchant permit is valid for 14 consecutive days, and no more than four permits are issued in a calendar year to any one person or for any one site. Section 50-180 bars sales on county property, roadways and rights-of-way. A city's own vendor rules apply inside city limits.