Lemonade Stand Case Study

In an ideal world kids running a lemonade stand would never be hassled about whether they had a peddler’s license. But planning commission member Clayton Preble says they are there to create regulations that offer protection in a “not normal world.” The issue arose Monday when Planning and Development Director Richard Osborne presented a relatively brief and simple ordinance to handle peddlers’ licenses. These are permits to sell things door-to-door or from a regular, non-permanent location like a food truck. The county only fields a request for a peddler’s license about once every six months. It was previously handled by probate court but the state wants them issued through the planning office. The proposed codes looked anything but straightforward after Preble and other planning commission members began asking
Imagine if someone is having a bad day and decides to check on a lemonade stand, he gave as an example. “I don’t think it should apply to bake sales but a wrong interpretation could cause a problem,” he said. It was decided to put the regulation on hold until Osborne could work with the county attorney to clarify who is not required to have a peddler’s license. “In a normal world [the written exemptions] wouldn’t be necessary,” Preble said. “But we are not in a normal world.” Osborne said the goal is not revenue off peddler licenses, as he doesn’t anticipate many being purchased, but to help law enforcement track who is selling stuff in the community or going door-to-door. He said there has never been a problem here with licenses and he drafted this ordinance by looking at surrounding counties’ guidelines where they appear to work smoothly. He said as long they define clearly and up front what is needed and who must have a license, he did not anticipate any of the lemonade stand