Homestead, FL Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Section 30-296 lists the uses permitted in the B-3 liberal business district, Homestead's zone for heavier retail and service uses that don't fit the more restricted B-1 and B-2 categories. Item (10) reads in full: 'Barbecue stands or barbecue pits, provided that establishments using wood burning for cooking are permitted only upon approval at a public hearing.' A barbecue stand or pit that uses gas or electric cooking equipment is allowed outright as a B-3 use, the same as bakeries or lawn and garden shops listed nearby in the same subsection, but the moment wood is the fuel, the operator needs city council sign-off through a noticed public hearing before opening.

That public-hearing trigger sits alongside a district-wide nuisance standard in the same division: B-3 operations generally 'shall be carried on entirely within the enclosing walls and under the roof of a building,' and 'no operations of any kind shall be of such a nature as to become offensive or noxious to adjacent property owners or residents by reason of the emission of odors, fumes, gases, dust, smoke, soot, noise or vibrations.' A wood-burning barbecue operation sits at the center of that concern, which is why it's carved out for extra public scrutiny rather than treated as a by-right use like a gas grill setup would be.