Rochester, NY Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

§ 79-6 of the Parks Code states flatly: "Smoking shall not be permitted, and no person shall smoke in a park," a citywide, blanket ban added in 2013 (effective January 1, 2014) that replaced a former § 79-6 dealing with alcoholic beverages. The Parks Code defines "smoking" as "the burning of a lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe or any other matter or substance which contains tobacco" (§ 79-1B). Separately, § 69-9 of the Littering and Smoking chapter bars smoking "within 100 feet of the entrance, exit or outdoor area of a public library," using the definition of smoking found in Article 13-E of the state Public Health Law; that section carves out an exception for smoking "within the boundary lines of a residential property," a limit the park ban does not share.

Rochester has not enacted a general outdoor smoking ban for sidewalks, restaurant patios or other public places outside parks and library buffers. Park smoking violations are heard by the Municipal Code Violations Bureau under § 79-26 and penalized under the § 13A-11 schedule; library-zone smoking violations fall under Chapter 69's own penalty clause, § 69-8, which applies the same § 13A-11 schedule. Both chapters are enforceable citywide, with parks patrolled by the Commissioner of Recreation and Human Services' staff and law enforcement under § 79-25.