Coon Rapids, MN Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Section 12-415 regulates open burning citywide, and its definitions section carves mobile cooking devices out of the regulated category entirely. Section 12-415(4)(b) defines open burning as combustion products emitted directly into the atmosphere without passing through a stack, duct or chimney, except a recreational or campfire, and then adds explicitly that mobile cooking devices such as charcoal grills, wood smokers, manufactured hibachis, and propane or natural gas devices are not considered open burning devices. Because a wood smoker falls outside the open burning definition, it is not subject to the permit requirement in Section 12-415(6), the prohibited-materials list in Section 12-415(5), or the burning-ban authority in Section 12-415(13) that otherwise lets the designated fire official shut down open flame during hazardous conditions.

That said, a smoker used on a balcony or ground-floor patio in a building with two or more vertically stacked residential units still runs into the separate ban in Section 12-419, which prohibits any fire or open flame device, including barbecues and similar heating devices, on balconies above ground level or on patios within 15 feet of another unit, and even bans storing such a device there. Single-family homeowners using a smoker in a backyard away from multi-unit balcony restrictions are simply outside Chapter 12-415's open burning permit scheme altogether, though normal nuisance rules for excessive smoke drifting onto neighboring property under other City Code provisions still apply generally.