Required Documents

• Transient Merchant
•  Property Ownership Affidavit

Transient Merchant Permit Procedures

A transient merchant is a person who sells or offers for sale merchandise at any place in the county temporarily on an order-for-future-delivery or a cash-and-carry basis, and who, for the purpose of carrying on such business hires, leases or occupies, either in whole or in part, a business location for the exhibition and sale of merchandise.

Transient merchants are required to obtain a permit from Clay County in order to operate. Are you a transient merchant? If you fall into the aforementioned definition you are unless you are one of the following:

(1) Merchants leasing or occupying booths or other space for the purpose of selling or exhibiting merchandise at the Clay County Fairgrounds.

(2) Merchants exclusively selling meats including fish or agricultural products intended for human consumption, provided that such merchants must nevertheless comply with the provisions of section 12-30 hereof with the benefit of the signage provisions thereof, must operate within authorized zoning districts, and not within three hundred (300) feet of any customer entrance of any established permanent business which sells the same or similar type of products, and for violations of the foregoing be subject to the provisions of section 12-33 hereof.

(3) Residential garage and yard sales.

(4) Sales operations at fairs, carnivals, bazaars, or like expositions or attractions of a duration of less than seven (7) days sponsored exclusively by, not-for-profit charitable, philanthropic, civic, political, educational or religious organizations.

(5) Holiday seasonal sales in any business or industrial districts sponsored exclusively by: not-for-profit charitable, philanthropic, civic, political, educational or religious organizations.

Prohibited Transient Merchant Practices

No transient merchant shall:

(1) Use or occupy any portion of any public square, park, parkway, street or alley where the sale or offer to sell is made thereon or where solicitation of customers is made thereon by:

     a.  Stopping passersby

     b. Yelling or making loud noise to attract persons to his or her place of business, or

     c. Having an attraction which will blockade a street, sidewalk or other public place;

(2) Use or occupy any portion of any right-of-way of any county-maintained road for the purpose of selling or offering to sell merchandise;

(3) Erect any signage on the public rights-of-way or in violation of the Clay County Sign Ordinance; provided, each permit shall entitle the holder thereof to display on private property only no more than two (2) temporary nonelectrical and non-mechanical signs not exceeding two and one-half (2 1/2) feet by five (5) feet in size each without a sign permit; or

(4) Cause or permit the accumulation of trash, garbage, or debris at the permit site without proper disposal thereof.

Hours of Sale and Parking Lot Occupation

No transient merchant shall sell or offer for sale any precious or semiprecious stones or imitations thereof, set or unset, or any watches, clocks, jewelry, silverware or glassware, between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. The label required on such merchandise shall contain:

(1) The true name, weight, quality and fineness of such stones, with imitations being described as such.

(2) The kind and quality of the metal of which the property is composed.

(3) The percentage or carat or purity of such metal.

(4) In the case of plated or overlaid metals, the material or metal so plated or overlaid.

Parking:  No permit holder occupying premises upon which a permanent commercial enterprise is actively maintained shall occupy more than five (5) percent of the permanent paved parking available to such enterprise, not including the parking by customers of the permit holder.

Required Permits

No transient merchant shall engage in any of the business regulated by this article without first obtaining a permit from the Planning and Zoning Division. Permits shall be issued for a three-month period upon payment of a two hundred dollar ($200.00) application fee, completed application, a notarized affidavit from the property owner allowing for the transient merchant to operate on their property, and a cash or surety bond in the amount of one thousand dollars ($1000.00). Applications and the required affidavit can be obtained in person at:

Clay County Planning and Zoning Division
477 Houston Street 3rd Floor
Green Cove Springs, FL 32043

Or download Application and Property Ownership Affidavit above.

Applications may also be emailed or faxed to upon request. You may contact the Planning and Zoning Division at (904) 278-4705.

All sites for which permits have been issued shall be subject to inspection at all reasonable times by law enforcement, public safety, building code inspectors and code enforcement personnel of the county to ensure continued compliance with all applicable laws, codes and ordinances.

Permit Conditions and Bonds

Transient merchant permit applicants shall deposit with the division a cash or surety bond in the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00). A surety bond must remain effective for a period of one (1) year from the date of the permit. The surety must be a corporate entity authorized to issue bonds in Florida. The applicant shall execute the permit application and disclose the names and residences of all persons financially interested in the business. A transient merchant permit shall be issued to only one person and shall not be transferable. A transient merchant permit shall not be issued for any parcel of land that is undeveloped or nonconforming under the county's land development regulations. A person applying for renewal of a permit which has not been terminated by revocation may have the cash bond deposited for the former permit transferred as a security for the new permit without need for depositing an additional bond, provided that the county has not commenced a civil action to enforce any claim against the bond as authorized hereunder, and has not been served with process as a garnishee in any civil action commenced by a third party to enforce such party's claim against the bond as authorized hereunder. Notwithstanding such transfer, said cash bond shall continue to secure payment of claims, fines or penalties arising under the former permit. In the event the county becomes a party to any civil action in which a claim is asserted against said cash bond, the director may suspend the new permit until the holder thereof has deposited an additional cash or surety bond in the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) to secure claims, fines or penalties arising under the new permit. If a deposit is not made within twenty (20) days of demand, the new permit shall be revoked.

Permit Filing

When the application and notarized affidavit are complete, you may present those items to the Planning and Zoning Division counter located at 477 Houston Street 3rd Floor, Green Cove Springs, FL 32043. Once the technician has received those items, the fee and the bond, the county shall issue the applicant a transient merchant permit.

Applicant Acknowledgement

By signing the application, the applicant consents to requirements and restrictions of Chapter 12, Article II, of the Clay County Code. To familiarize you with this code, a link is provided below where the ordinance may be downloaded:Chapter 12 Article II Transient Merchants

If you should have any questions please contact the Planning and Zoning Division at (904) 278-4705.