New Haven, CT Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

New Haven's tobacco-free zone ordinance, enacted by Ord. No. 1772 on May 18, 2015 and retitled by Ord. No. 2025-0003 on March 17, 2025, prohibits tobacco use on three categories of city-controlled land. Sec. 16-141 defines "recreational property" as land owned by the city and under the supervision and control of the department of parks, recreation and trees, used in connection with recreational programs, including athletic facilities, parks, playgrounds, trails, and other areas where people may assemble for recreational purposes, plus any community, recreation, or senior center building on park property; recreational property does not include school grounds.

"School grounds" means a parcel of land used for school purposes and operated by the New Haven Board of Education. "Tobacco product" is defined broadly to include a lighted cigarette, cigar, pipe, or similar device, all electronic cigarettes (e-cig, e-hookah, vape pen, or electronic nicotine delivery system), chew tobacco, and snus. Sec. 16-142 makes it "prohibited, at all times, for an individual to use any tobacco product in any form" in a city park or other city-owned recreational property, on public school grounds, or on any other city-owned property the city designates.

Enforcement authority under Sec. 16-141's definition extends to any law enforcement officer, the director of health or a designee, the mayor or a designee, and the chief of police or a designee, though Sec. 16-143 assigns day-to-day enforcement to the New Haven Police Department, whose officers must first inform a violator of the article before taking enforcement action. Sec. 16-145 requires the city to post "Tobacco-Free Zone" signs on covered properties that identify the ordinance by number and state the penalty amount, so a location is only enforceable once it carries that posted notice.