Want a 250 or 500 gallon...worried about neighbors/city. In suburbs of Chicago.

Rockinar said:
I live in typical suburbia with a strick HOA and cook in my driveway with a 24x60 trailer all the time. I keep it in my garage.

One thing you can do to keep neighbors on your good side is cook at night. I think you will find yourself doing this anyways due to timing unless you have an Alto Sham where you could cook during the day, then keep it warm for infinity until youre ready to eat. I do a lot of brisket and just started practicing pork butts with it, and I dont fire up about 8 or 9 at night, cook all night then by the time neighbors are waking up and coming outside, Im done cooking, the food is resting in a cooler and Ive gone to sleep a few hours. Nobody even knew I was cooking if it was not for the smoker in the driveway still.

Ive never had any complaints, but I still try to be respectful of my neighbors and keep the smoke to a minmum. Only time I really cook during the day is short cooks of chicken only. If im doing ribs Ill throw those in on the tail end of an all night brisket cook.

So the neighbors might see the trailer in the driveway, but rarely see me cooking on it and the smoke does not bother anyone cause they're asleep. Everyone's happy.
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You’re the BBQ Ninja!

My neighbors have never complained, but I’m small-time.
 
Wow glad I do not live where you do. Biggest problem I have is the neighbors coming over to see what is cooking.
 
SGOTI is not going to give you reliable answers on this. The people you want to talk to are probably in something called the Inspections Department.

In our town, trailers, rvs, etc. are permitted to be stored outside but must be on a blacktop or concrete pad. No overnight street parking is permitted. It is rules like that you need to ask about.
 
At first I thought you were in Moscow, and then I saw Chi-Town. It's all making sense now. :mrgreen:
 
If you have an HOA? Fugheddaboudit. Between that and local government and bastard neighbors you are doomed. If you realy want that? Rent a space like you would a large boat, preferably in an industrial area. I doubt the storage area would have any problem with you cooking there if you slipped them a few bucks now and then. Think of it as your man cave.

I was just in Lakeview yesterday picking up some wine at Binny's. I have worked many months in Des Plaines and da region. reminded me of how much I love Chicago. Traffic was so bad on 94 due to an accident they routed my down Lake Shore/Stony Island to the skyway. A nice scenic treat on Friday afternoon.
 
Consider finding a home for the cooker that is far enough west or north that you will not be burdened by the socialistic nature of Chicago and its burbs. That 45 min limitation in north Chicago pretty much eliminates the possibility of finding anything that will afford you the opportunity of stoking sticks in your back yard. If you will consider going 45 miles west you probably can find a location that will allow you to safely base a large cooker without fear of theft, dealing with whinnying neighbors, or the aggravation of nosey bureaucrats.
 
Move to grayslake area where Shagdog and Chicago KP live... they smoke all they want too.... or just see if they will let you pay a toll to use it.... every time I go to Chicago I have to go thru no less than 5 tolls... or get a Shirley pit .... cause they want see no smoke coming out of it ..... burns clean...:) .... seriously good luck I hope you get this sorted out.... living in the south does have some advantages I guess......
 
Thank you for all the thoughtful responses on this. To clarify, I live in a townhome (with an HOA right now) and there have been several complaints against me for violation of their neighborhood rules including excessive smoke, leaving my garage door open overnight...sorry Rockinar, I already try to do my long cooks like brisket overnight, interfering with the peace of the neighborhood, blah, blah, blah. Don’t get me wrong, many of the neighbors don’t mind and love when I pull my smoker out, but apparently a few...that also happen to be on the HOA board don’t. This is why my wife and I are moving out at the end of June when our lease is up. There is no winning here.

What I’m now trying to do (point of the original post) is find a town and single family home that will allow me to keep a larger sized rig that I can both use at home as I see fit and occasionally commercially for pop ups that I would like to do in the warmer season. Right now from what I’m learning, that is not really looking possible in some of these well to do suburbs outside of the city. They’re very strict whether I keep the smoker in my garage or backyard. It’s complicated. I fully agree that moving to a more rural or unincorporated area would greatly help. I’m looking into everything including moving down south. I was just trying to see what others with big rigs do including those that might live where I do. A lot of good suggestions for me to further consider.
 
You're probably screwed anywhere in Cook County. Although Streamwood might be ok. No one has complained about me smoking, but I don't have anything that big. Some of the hoydy toydy towns along the North shore in Lake County are probably out as well. You might be ok in McHenry or Kane or parts of Dupage counties.
 
Have you tried unincorporated areas? I am just south of 80 so too far for you but the difference between village/town rules and county only rules is night and day. South suburbs is full of little pockets on unicorporated areas not sure if the same up North but worth a look.
 
Daddio BBQ said:
Have you tried unincorporated areas? I am just south of 80 so too far for you but the difference between village/town rules and county only rules is night and day. South suburbs is full of little pockets on unicorporated areas not sure if the same up North but worth a look.
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I’ve found that living outside of city limits where there are no rules is a blessing and a curse. It may give you the freedom but that also applies to Joe Dirt who lives next to you. Many times I would have to tell my kids to stop plying outside when target practice is happening somewhere in my area.
 
My neighbor bought me a bag of cherry wood and threw it over the fence because they like the smell of my smoke. I almost exclusively use cherry wood.
 
First off, let me say that I hope you find a place soon, that will accommodate what you want. I can understand a little bit about limited housing options, although not HOA's.

This isnt what you want, but have you considered a very large cabinet (or two?) to roll into and store in your garage that you can load up on a small trailer? Maybe you could keep the trailer in the back yard or in a garage? Again, I understand that isnt what you are asking for, but it would provide large cooking capacity, and possibly get you past the regulations?

If not, then you could get a storage unit to store a trailer, and a smaller cooker at home?
 
I live in a duplex with a 2 car garage. I have a huge smoker, a 500 gallon Moberg on a trailer with a fold-down stack. Takes up basically one side of the garage. Just slide it out to cook. Then slide it right back in when you're done. As far as the neighbors, you're just in the wrong part of the world. Down here that smoker makes my neighbors happy.

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