Sherman, TX Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Article 8.06 of the Sherman Code of Ordinances, adopted by the Sherman City Council as Ordinance 5887 on 7/20/15, makes smoking an offense in a defined list of places. Section 8.06.002(a) covers public elevators, hospitals and nursing homes, city conference rooms and public service areas, enclosed retail and service establishments, restaurants or bars, common-use areas such as restrooms and lobbies, public school facilities, polling places and convention facilities. Subsection (a)(11) is the outdoor reach of the article: the twenty-five foot buffer around outside entrances, operable windows and ventilation systems of enclosed public places where smoking is prohibited.

"Smoking" is defined broadly. It covers inhaling, exhaling, burning or carrying any lighted or heated cigar, cigarette, pipe or other tobacco or plant product, and it expressly includes e-cigarette vapor. The list in § 8.06.002(a) does not name parks or playgrounds, so the ordinance does not by its own terms ban smoking in an open park.

Section 8.06.002(c) lists four defenses: a private club, the confines of a "patio" as defined in § 8.06.001, a retail or service establishment primarily engaged in selling tobacco or smoking implements, and a participant in an authorized theatrical performance. The definition of patio is a designated outdoor area adjacent to a restaurant or bar where food or beverages are served or consumed. Owners who control a covered area must post a conspicuous sign at the main entrance or perimeter, with lettering at least three-fourths inch high reading "no smoking except in designated areas" or "no smoking permitted" and "City of Sherman Ordinance" in letters at least three-eighths inch high, plus the universal no-smoking emblem. Section 8.06.003 requires a written smoking policy for any area where smoking is allowed, open to inspection by employees and the director.