West Des Moines, IA Public Conduct: Outdoor Smoking Restrictions (2026)

City Code section 7-11-2(I) prohibits any person, at any time, from using tobacco of any kind while on city park or parks and recreation facility property. 'Tobacco' covers any product made or derived from tobacco intended for human use, including cigarettes, electronic smoking devices, cigarette tobacco, roll-your-own tobacco, smokeless tobacco and dissolvable tobacco, and the definition of 'electronic smoking devices' expressly reaches e-cigarettes, e-cigars, e-pipes, vape pens and e-hookahs. The one carve-out is for nicotine products approved by the FDA for tobacco cessation, which remain allowed in city parks.

Enforcement under section 7-11-3 is graduated: before a police officer or designee can issue a citation-complaint for a tobacco violation, the offender must already have received a prior warning, or must have refused to stop after being told the conduct must cease. Once a citation-complaint issues, the ordinance sets a flat $100 civil penalty for each violation, a specific figure that applies only to the tobacco subsection along with the alcohol-consumption and swimming-area subsections of the same chapter; other park rule violations fall instead under the general Title 1, Chapter 4 municipal infraction penalty of up to $750, or $1,000 for a repeat offense.

The ban applies across every site the chapter defines as a 'parks and recreation facility,' including the Holiday Aquatic Center, Valley View Aquatic Center, Raccoon River Park and the Jamie Hurd Amphitheater.