Costa Mesa, CA Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Chapter V of Title 8 bans smoking, defined broadly under § 8-132 to include tobacco, electronic cigarettes and any other weed, plant or substance consumed by burning, inhalation or vaporization, in every area the city posts as a no-smoking zone with signs sufficient in number to be readily seen. Section 8-133 lists five specific zones: any public facility as defined in § 8-132 (any enclosed building, structure or room, and any enclosed city motor vehicle, but not multi-family residential buildings); within any park; within 50 feet of any park perimeter (with a carve-out for perimeters that encroach onto private property, and for people or vehicles simply passing along public streets and sidewalks); the parking lots and enclosed fenced areas of city-owned sports facilities such as the Jack Hammett Sports Complex, TeWinkle Athletic Complex, Luke Davis Field and the Downtown Aquatic Center; and the parking lots and enclosed fenced areas of the Hamilton and Del Mar community gardens.

Section 8-134 separately makes it unlawful to dispose of cigarette butts, cigars or any other combustible smoking waste anywhere smoking itself is prohibited, so littering a butt in a no-smoking zone is its own violation on top of the smoking itself. City employees authorized to enforce the Code or state law administer the ban under § 8-135.