Lexington, KY Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Sec. 14-103 extends Lexington-Fayette's indoor smoking law to the sidewalk just outside a building's door. ' The section is one of eight (Secs. 14-97 through 14-104) that together define and enforce the city's indoor smoking prohibition, and it shares their enforcement mechanism: citations are issued by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Health Department under Sec. 14-101, whose citation officers may enter a workplace during business hours to check compliance and can write a citation for any violation committed in their presence. Because the rule is tied to smoke actually reaching the building's interior rather than a fixed setback, an owner, lessee, or manager who wants a firmer line can post signage or otherwise restrict smoking further, Sec.

14-98 expressly allows an owner to prohibit smoking completely on their property, including outdoor areas, doorways, and parking lots, beyond what the entrance-buffer rule itself requires. The entrance-buffer rule applies citywide to every building covered by the smoking ordinance, offices, restaurants, bars, and other establishments open to the public or functioning as a workplace, regardless of whether the interior itself allows any smoking exception under Sec. 14-98.