Bakersfield has no ordinance specifically addressing residential backyard smokers (offset, pellet, or kamado). Use is permitted as an accessory residential activity. Excessive smoke or odor that interferes with neighbors' use and enjoyment of their property may be abated as a public nuisance under BMC Chapter 8.80. Wintertime wood-burning is independently regulated by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District under Rule 4901, which applies countywide to Bakersfield.
BMC Title 17 (Zoning) permits residential cooking as an accessory use in all residential zones — no permit is required for a backyard smoker. The Bakersfield Municipal Code does not set distance, smoke-density, or hours-of-use limits for residential smokers. However, BMC Chapter 8.80 (Abatement of Public Nuisances) authorizes the city to abate any condition that is 'injurious to the health, indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by an entire community or neighborhood' (consistent with Cal. Civ. Code §3479). Persistent dense smoke from a residential smoker that drifts into adjacent properties can be addressed under this authority. Additionally, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Rule 4901 (Residential Wood Burning) prohibits or restricts wood and wood-pellet residential burning on declared no-burn days from November 1 through the end of February each year — this applies to wood-fired smokers in Kern County, including Bakersfield. Charcoal smokers (lump or briquette) are not regulated by Rule 4901.
A backyard smoker creating a nuisance condition can result in a notice of violation and abatement order under BMC Ch. 8.80, with administrative citations and recoverable abatement costs. Violation of SJVAPCD Rule 4901 (burning wood on a no-burn day) is subject to civil penalties starting at $50 for a first offense and rising with repeat violations.
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