Street vendor permits in Oakland County, MI — sometimes called sidewalk vendor licenses, mobile vendor permits, or peddler permits — are the licenses required to sell goods or food on public property.
Oakland County does not issue a county-wide street vendor or peddler permit. Vendor licensing is handled by each of the county's 62 cities, villages, and townships under Michigan's Home Rule City Act (MCL 117) and Township Zoning Act. The Oakland County Health Division does issue the underlying mobile food unit license required for any vendor selling food anywhere in the county.
A typical Oakland County food vendor must hold three layers of authorization: (1) a State of Michigan / Oakland County Health Division mobile food establishment license (issued by OCHD Environmental Health under Michigan's Modified Food Law, MCL 289.1101 et seq., and the Oakland County Sanitary Code); (2) a municipal peddler, transient merchant, or mobile vending license issued by the city or township clerk where the vendor operates (for example, Clawson regulates mobile food vendors and ice-cream trucks as 'peddlers and canvassers' under Chapter 54 of the Clawson Code); and (3) written permission from the underlying property owner if vending on private property. Ice-cream trucks and similar 'stop-only-briefly' vehicles are explicitly classified as peddlers in most Oakland County code books. Background checks and proof of insurance are common municipal requirements.
Vending without a Health Division food license is a misdemeanor under the Michigan Food Law (MCL 289.4117) and can lead to license denial countywide. Vending without the local peddler license is generally a municipal civil infraction with fines of $100 to $500 per occurrence in Oakland County jurisdictions, plus seizure of inventory in some cities.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
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