Hamburg Village, NY Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Section 132-1B of the Code of the Village of Hamburg is the only provision in the village code that speaks to outdoor cooking fires. It sits inside Chapter 132, Burning, Outdoor, directly after the prohibition in § 132-1A against burning rubbish or any other material that gives rise to unwholesome, offensive or deleterious odors, gas or smoke.

The exception is worded as a statement of legislative intent: it is not intended that the section forbid the igniting or burning of cooking fires in standard outside barbecues, fireplaces or grills, provided that such fires are properly supervised. Three pieces of equipment are named: standard outside barbecues, fireplaces and grills. Chapter 132 does not use the word smoker, so a backyard smoker is best read as a standard outside cooking appliance of the same kind, and the supervision condition applies to it in the same way.

The condition is supervision. The code prints no hours, no minimum distance from a property line or building, no fuel limits and no permit or fee for a cooking fire. What the Board of Trustees does print is the penalty exposure: if a cooking fire is left unsupervised or is used to burn material that gives off unwholesome, offensive or deleterious odors, gas or smoke, the person is outside the exception and inside the § 132-1A prohibition.

The rule applies within the Village of Hamburg. The surrounding Town of Hamburg has its own separate code, and its rules are not village rules. The chapter was adopted by the Board of Trustees on 4-6-1970 as § 8-2 of the 1970 Code and carries a cross-reference to Chapter 123, Building Construction and Fire Prevention.