Clay County, MO Ordinances (2026)

Caring for children for pay in a Clay County home requires a license from the Missouri DESE Office of Childhood once you exceed six children. Six or fewer, including three or fewer…

Missouri's cottage food law lets Clay County residents sell home-baked goods, canned jams and jellies, and dried herbs directly to consumers with no license, no inspection, and no…

Owners of vacant lots in unincorporated Clay County must keep them clear of overgrowth and junk. Under RSMo 67.398 the county can abate weeds seven inches or more in height, plus trash…

Clay County directly enforces property maintenance in unincorporated areas through code enforcement. Under RSMo 67.398, which reaches Clay County because it contains part of Kansas…

Clay County requires a county traffic engineer permit before any funeral, procession, or parade of 200 or more people or 50 or more vehicles can occupy or march along a county road in…

Clay County requires a permit for any vendor stand, tent, exhibition, parade, or special event held on park land under Code of Ordinances § 90.26. Selling or advertising merchandise…

Reserving a Clay County park facility or holding a group event on park land runs through the permit process at Code of Ordinances § 90.27. Applicants file with the county commission or…

Clay County requires every wrecker or tow service operating in the county, or doing more than half its business there, to hold a paid county personal property tax license under Sec…

Clay County requires a permit before anyone erects, enlarges, alters, repairs, moves, converts, demolishes or equips a building or structure in the unincorporated county. Sec…

Clay County adopted the 2012 International Plumbing Code as its official plumbing code under Sec. 150.17, so plumbing work in the unincorporated county runs on that code's permit and…

Clay County adopted the 2011 National Electrical Code as its official electric code under Sec. 150.20, so any wiring, service upgrade or electrical installation in the unincorporated…

Clay County caps how much beer or liquor a person can carry in a park under Code of Ordinances § 90.31: no individual container over 32 ounces without a special permit, and no alcohol…

Clay County limits e-bikes on its park trail system to Class 1 and Class 3 models under Code of Ordinances § 90.14A. Those pedal-assisted bikes are permitted only on seven named trails…

Clay County's Food Code requires the person in charge at every food establishment to prove food-safety knowledge to the health inspector on request, and Sec. 200.31(C) treats a…

Clay County bans dumping trash of any kind in its park and recreation system under Code of Ordinances § 90.21. Section (B) requires garbage generated on-site to go in provided…

No county bulk pickup exists in unincorporated Clay County. Arrange large-item removal through your private hauler or haul to a transfer station. Illegally dumping construction debris…

Missouri's division-fence law, Chapter 272, makes adjoining owners of enclosed rural or farm land share a boundary fence built to a lawful four-foot livestock standard. It reaches Clay…

Beekeeping is legal across Clay County and treated as agriculture. Missouri requires no apiary registration; the state Department of Agriculture inspects hives on request…

Missouri lets cities pass breed laws, and Clay County is split: Gladstone presumes pit bulls dangerous under a 2007 ordinance, while Liberty repealed its long-standing pit bull ban in…

Feeding wildlife anywhere in a Clay County park or recreation area is banned outright under Code of Ordinances § 90.23(I). The same subsection also bars pursuing, catching, killing…

Missouri has no statewide leash law, so Clay County's cities set their own; Gladstone, Liberty, and Kearney require dogs restrained in public. Statewide, an owner is strictly liable…

Missouri's Home Solicitation Sales Act, not a Clay County ordinance, governs door-to-door sales in the unincorporated county: RSMo § 407.705.1 gives a buyer until midnight of the third…

Clay County runs no county-wide no-knock registry, but a posted 'No Soliciting' or 'No Trespassing' sign carries legal force. A solicitor who ignores it can be charged with…

Clay County requires every outdoor Category I or Category II swimming pool, spa, hot tub or sprayground, meaning public and semi-public pools at hotels, apartments, HOAs and clubs, to…

Unincorporated Clay County requires a building permit for in-ground and above-ground pools and spas. The Building Division issues the permit, runs a bonding inspection and a final…

Growing cannabis at home is legal in Clay County for adults 21 and over who hold a $100 state registration card. The card allows six flowering, six nonflowering, and six clone plants…

Cannabis dispensaries are legal and operating in Clay County, licensed by the state. Local governments can regulate where they locate but can ban them only by a 60% vote of the people…

Clay County requires a mobile food unit to hold a County Food and Beverage Permit before it can operate, per Sec. 203.02 of the health code. The Health Department charges a flat $25…

Clay County has no dark-sky ordinance for homes, but its Land Development Code requires commercial and industrial lighting to be shielded so the light source is hidden at any property…

Unincorporated Clay County sets no numeric light-trespass limit for homes. Its Land Development Code makes commercial and industrial lighting shield the source at property lines next…

In unincorporated Clay County, the Land Development Code sets minimum yard setbacks by zoning district. The rural AG and R-1 districts require a 50-foot front, 25-foot side, and…

Clay County's Land Development Code puts no blanket impervious-surface cap on rural residential lots, controlling bulk through large minimum lot sizes and setbacks instead. Commercial…

Clay County's Land Development Code caps principal buildings at 40 feet in the rural AG, R-1, and R-5 districts and 35 feet in the suburban Residential Urban and commercial districts…

Missouri law voids any deed restriction, covenant, or HOA rule that bans rooftop solar panels or collectors on homes in Clay County's unincorporated subdivisions. Under RSMo §…

Missouri's Net Metering and Easy Connection Act, RSMo §386.890, caps what a Clay County solar customer must do to connect a system to the grid. Systems up to 100 kW qualify for net…

Rent control is illegal anywhere in Clay County. Missouri statute §441.043 bars every county and city, including charter governments like Kansas City, from enacting or enforcing any…

Missouri has no just-cause eviction law, and Clay County cannot add one. A landlord ends a month-to-month tenancy with one month's written notice under §441.060, then files a…

Because Clay County lies in the Kansas City metropolitan air-quality area, burning trees or brush requires an open-burning permit from the local fire district, household-refuse burning…

Recreational fires are allowed on private property in unincorporated Clay County without a county permit, but they must burn only clean wood and stay attended, and the local fire…

Consumer fireworks are legal statewide in Missouri and may be discharged on private property in unincorporated Clay County, but Kansas City bans them entirely, county parks prohibit…

Unincorporated Clay County lies inside the Kansas City metropolitan area covered by Missouri's statewide open burning rule, 10 CSR 10-6.045. Subsection (3)(A)5.A requires a burn permit…

Clay County cities set their own quiet hours, generally 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Beneath every city and the unincorporated county sits Missouri's peace disturbance law, RSMo 574.010, which…

Persistent barking in Clay County is a nuisance handled by each city's animal control and ordinance. Missouri's peace disturbance law, RSMo 574.010, backs enforcement, making…

Amplified music in Clay County is governed by each city's noise ordinance and Missouri's peace disturbance law, RSMo 574.010. Public events need city permits; private parties need none…

Construction hours in Clay County are set city by city, not by the state or county. Liberty, Gladstone, and Kearney limit powered work to daytime, and off-hours construction noise is…

Removing a tree on your own Clay County land needs no permit; Missouri has no statewide tree-protection law. But trees in the public right-of-way are city property, and cutting someone…

You may prune trees on your own Clay County property freely. Trees in the public right-of-way belong to the city. Gladstone's forestry ordinance even makes topping any street, park, or…

Overgrown weeds are a nuisance in Clay County. Unincorporated land falls under RSMo 67.398 (seven-inch threshold); inside cities, RSMo 71.285 lets officials declare weeds a nuisance…

Converting a garage into living space in unincorporated Clay County requires a building permit and must meet habitable-space standards under the adopted International Residential Code…

A carport in unincorporated Clay County requires a building permit from the Building Division and must meet zoning setbacks and the county's 90-mph wind-load standard. As a first-class…

Clay County's parks and recreation areas run on a posted seasonal clock set by Code of Ordinances § 90.03: picnic and shelter areas close at dusk or 6:30 p.m. in winter, swimming…

Land disturbance of one acre or more in Missouri needs a state construction stormwater permit from the Department of Natural Resources before work starts. Unincorporated Clay County…

Any construction project in unincorporated Clay County that disturbs one acre or more, or less than an acre as part of a larger development plan totaling an acre or more, needs a…

Unincorporated Clay County does not license residential sales, so no county cleanup rule governs them directly. Leftover merchandise, signs and debris left out afterward can be abated…

Short-term rental guests in Clay County follow the same noise rules as residents: each city's ordinance plus Missouri's peace disturbance law, RSMo 574.010. In Kansas City's Northland…

Short-term stays in Clay County owe Missouri's 4.225% state sales tax plus local sales taxes. Cities may add a transient guest tax under RSMo 67.1000. Platforms collect state tax…

Missouri Revised Statutes 304.155 lets the Clay County Sheriff authorize towing of abandoned vehicles from public property, and inoperable junk vehicles left in view on private land…