Monterey Park, CA Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Monterey Park adopted Chapter 6.20 under its police power and Government Code Section 7597(b) to be more restrictive on outdoor smoking than state law requires, and Section 6.20.030(b) carries that policy into buffer zones around the places where smoking is already banned indoors or in enclosed common areas. Nobody may smoke, at any time, within twenty feet of a city-owned public building, a public park, a common area such as a plaza or parking structure, or an outdoor dining area where the required signs are posted; the buffer widens to twenty-five feet around a playground or tot-lot sandbox under state Health and Safety Code Section 104495. Section 6.20.040 requires every responsible person subject to the chapter to post conspicuous all-capital signage at least one inch tall on a contrasting background within thirty days of the chapter taking effect, and the city manager is responsible for posting the required signs at public buildings and parks.

Section 6.20.035 gives a responsible person a narrow way to allow outdoor smoking anyway: a designated smoking area must sit inside a common area, stay beyond the twenty-foot buffer (except the common-area buffer itself), carry a conspicuous 'SMOKING AREA' sign in one-inch capital letters, post the Proposition 65 warning required by the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, and win approval from the community development director as a conditional use under Chapter 21.66; that approval can run indefinitely but expires once the business use of the property ends or changes. A responsible person who fails to meet those conditions is guilty of an infraction under Section 6.20.035(c), and Section 6.20.050 lets the city prosecute any Chapter 6.20 violation as an infraction, abate it as a public nuisance, or pursue injunctive relief.