Warren, MI Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

Article V of Chapter 21 is Warren's public property smoking ordinance. Sec. 21-73 states the city's purpose: protecting people who use municipal buildings and services from secondhand smoke, litter, and lingering odors. Sec. 21-74 defines a public building broadly to include city administrative buildings, court buildings, maintenance garages, satellite offices, libraries, and buildings owned by the Downtown Development Authority, the Tax Increment Finance Authority, and the Warren Building Authority; entrances covers any door or area used for public ingress and egress, including entrances through a parking structure.

Sec. 21-75 sets the core rule: no smoking within twenty-five feet of an entrance to a public building, subject to the exception in Sec. 21-76 for buildings managed by the Warren Community Housing Authority, such as the Joseph Coach and Stillwell Manor apartments, which may instead adopt their own, stricter smoking rules. To make the boundary obvious, Sec. 21-77 requires the city to post signs reading "NO SMOKING WITHIN 25 FEET OF THIS ENTRANCE" with a citation to the ordinance, and Sec. 21-78 requires debris receptacles placed exactly twenty-five feet from each entrance to mark the line and catch cigarette litter; moving one of those receptacles more than a foot is itself a misdemeanor punishable by up to ninety days in jail and a $500 fine.

Sec. 21-80 sets the smoking penalty at a $100 civil infraction fine for a first violation and $200 for each additional violation within a year, and if a person keeps smoking after a police officer tells them to stop or issues a citation, the officer can order them off the property or charge them with a misdemeanor carrying up to ninety days in jail and a $500 fine.