Novato, CA Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

Section 10-4 of the Novato Municipal Code lists the uses of park property that need a park permit, and item e covers any activity that includes an open flame or a flame within any apparatus. The code names a fire pit and a barbeque as examples and then sweeps in any other container or receptacle of whatever kind, brought onto park grounds by any person or provided, owned or maintained by the City of Novato. A City-supplied barbeque therefore needs the permit just as a privately owned one does.

The parks and recreation director decides the application. Section 10-7 requires the director to grant or deny a park application on or before four business days after filing, unless the applicant waives that time in writing. One listed ground for denial is an open flame or flame within an apparatus during a month of high or very high fire risk, or any time a local, state or federal agency with fire prevention or fire services authority issues a warning of increased fire risk due to weather or other conditions.

Section 10-28 backs this up: except as permitted with a park permit, no person lights, starts, kindles or maintains any fire in any park, and no fire is allowed in any open space. Citywide, section 14-20.5 limits fires on public property to City-provided apparatus.

Street parties have their own rule. Section 15-3.3 defines a block party as a festival gathering on a residential street that closes the street or part of it and uses it for the festivity including barbecues, picnics, music or games. That needs a special event permit from the chief of police, and section 15-3.9 lets the chief condition a block party permit on notice and approval by 50 percent of the residents of dwellings along the affected streets.

The park provision does not print the word smoker. It regulates the flame and the apparatus that holds it.