5 rules for unincorporated Clay County, Missouri.
Verified from official government sources
In unincorporated Clay County, a home business needs a Home Occupation permit from the Planning & Zoning Department and must stay clearly secondary to residential use under the Land Development Code. Cities like Liberty and Gladstone run their own home-occupation rules.
Clay County's home-occupation standards keep a home business from advertising itself: no external signs, displays, or commercial signage visible from the street on unincorporated residential lots. Cities and subdivision covenants add their own sign limits.
A home occupation in unincorporated Clay County cannot draw commercial levels of customer or delivery traffic. Client visits and parking must stay at ordinary residential volumes under the Land Development Code. Walk-in retail trade is not a permitted home occupation.
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 sales cap. Products just need a home-kitchen label.
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 196.298
an individual operation out of the individual's home who: (a) Produces a baked good, a canned jam or jelly, or a dried herb or herb mix for sale at the individual's home; and (b) Sells the food produced under paragraph (a) of this subdivision only directly to consumers
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 under age two, is license-exempt.
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 210.211.1
Any person who is caring for six or fewer children, including a maximum of three children under the age of two, at the same physical address.
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