Sheboygan, WI Outdoor Cooking: BBQ & Propane Rules (2026)

Sheboygan treats outdoor cooking as a carved-out exception to its open burning ban. Section 50-181(b) prohibits kindling, starting or maintaining a fire in the open air within the corporate city limits except as provided in section 50-182, and subsection (5) of section 50-182 lists fires set for outdoor cooking as one of those exceptions, split into three lettered conditions by fuel type.

The propane condition is in subsection (5)(b). Propane fueled appliances and burners shall not be used above the first floor level of any porch or deck attached to a building or structure. The text does not use the words balcony, apartment or multifamily, so the operative test is the one the code prints: a propane grill or burner on a porch or deck attached to a building has to be at the first floor level, not on an upper level. The same paragraph requires approved propane appliances and burners to be installed in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications.

Natural gas is handled separately in subsection (5)(c). A natural gas outdoor cooking appliance has to be approved, mounted on a noncombustible post and installed in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications.

The ten-foot distance and the constant supervision requirement appear only in subsection (5)(a), which governs wood or other nonexplosive fuel burned in a metal, concrete or brick burner approved by the chief inspector of the bureau. Subsections (5)(b) and (5)(c) print no separate distance figure; they send installation details to the manufacturer's specifications. The chief of the fire department and the chief inspector of the bureau are the officials named in chapter 50 to issue orders and enforce it.