Plainfield, NJ Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Article 12A of Chapter 10 covers outdoor smoking on City property. Section 10:12A-2(a) bars smoking on the outdoor grounds of any City municipal building, including adjacent parking lots, and in any City park, recreational area and adjacent parking lot, whether the City owns, leases or utilizes it. Subsection (b) bars smoking in any vehicle owned or leased by the City.

The definitions in § 10:12A-1 are broad. Smoking means burning, inhaling from, exhaling smoke from or possessing a lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe or other matter that contains tobacco or can be smoked, and it also means inhaling or exhaling smoke or vapor from an electronic cigarette, cigar, cigarillo or pipe. An electronic smoking device is any electronic device that can deliver nicotine or other substances to the person inhaling from it. Vaping in a City park is therefore treated the same as lighting a cigarette.

Authority to enforce is shared. Under § 10:12A-3, the Health Officer or a designee, a law enforcement officer or a City Code Enforcement Officer who observes or reasonably believes a violation exists can issue a written summons and complaint, which must be served on the violator.

The article is limited to City property. It names the outdoor grounds of municipal buildings, parks, recreational areas, adjacent parking lots and City vehicles, and it does not name private yards, sidewalks or restaurant patios. Indoor smoking in municipal buildings is a separate rule in Article 11: § 10:11-2 prohibits smoking in municipal buildings and City agencies except in designated areas posted "Smoking Permitted," and its definition of smoke includes marijuana smoke and electronic cigarette vapors.