Ottawa County, MI Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

The Ottawa County Board of Commissioners' Rules and Regulations in Parks ordinance carries a narrow, beach-specific smoking ban rather than a park-wide or county-wide one. 6(a)(xviii) states that no person on Commission Park Property shall smoke or use a tobacco product, e-cigarette, or similar device or substance in any beach area, including sand areas, grass areas, decks, overlooks and other structures; or adjoining areas, as designated by signing. 6(a)(xix), separately bars disposing of smoking or tobacco waste in those same beach areas. Because the ban is tied to a beach area and land the Commission has posted with signs, it reaches swimming beaches and their sand, grass, decks, and overlook structures at Ottawa County parks, but it does not by its terms cover picnic shelters, trails, or other park land outside a designated beach.

Ottawa County has no separate ordinance banning smoking in outdoor public places generally; broader outdoor-smoking rules for sidewalks, downtown districts, or public property outside the parks system come, if at all, from the city or township with jurisdiction over that land. 18(a)(i).