Chapel Hill, NC Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Sec. 12-5 defines 'smoking' for park purposes as the use or possession of a lighted cigarette, lighted cigar, lighted pipe, or any other lighted tobacco product, and it bars that conduct on the grounds of any town-owned park, parks and recreation facility, or town-owned playground, citywide, not just in specific zones within a park. The prohibition is not automatic: subsection (c) makes it effective only once the town posts conspicuous signage stating 'No Smoking' and/or 'Use of Tobacco Products Prohibited,' including the universal no-smoking symbol, large enough to be clearly legible and placed at intervals reasonably calculated to inform employees and the public.

This outdoor ban sits apart from the older, indoor-focused Article XIII smoking rules in Sec. 11-114 through Sec. 11-123, which regulate restaurants, bars, retail stores, workplaces and other enclosed public places rather than parks. Enforcement follows a warning-first process under Sec. 12-6: the person in charge of the park area, or a designee, must first give oral or written notice to stop; only a continued failure to cease after that notice becomes a chargeable infraction. A sworn law enforcement officer can issue the citation, which carries a fine of not more than $50.00.

The section is unusual among the town's penalty provisions in specifying that conviction carries no consequence beyond paying that fine, with no court costs assessed, distinguishing it from the misdemeanor-level penalties used elsewhere in the noise and public-conduct articles.