Eagan, MN Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Eagan City Code § 10.40, Subd. 6.C.3 makes it unlawful for anyone to kindle, maintain, or cause any fire or open flame on a balcony above ground level, or on a ground-floor patio within 15 feet of the structure, in any building with three or more dwelling units that share a common hallway or means of egress. Because a charcoal or wood smoker burns an open flame or hot coals, it falls under this same prohibition rather than under the narrow common-area grill exception described elsewhere in Subd.

6.C, which covers only permanently mounted, UL-listed electric or gas grills plumbed or wired into the building's utilities. Subd. 6.C.1 separately bars storing or using electric, gas, charcoal, or pellet grills, as well as any open flame device, in those same balcony and patio locations, so a smoker cannot even be stored there between uses. The rule applies regardless of whether the resident owns the smoker or is using it for a single evening; there is no permit process that allows a temporary exception for smokers on a qualifying balcony or ground-floor patio.

Residents of Eagan's larger apartment and condominium buildings who want to use a smoker or other open-flame cooker need to do so on the ground away from the building, beyond the 15-foot patio buffer, or use one of the association's approved common-area grills instead.