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A Sonoma County barbecue joint that quickly won overGuy Fieriis in major hot water with its neighbors, who say the restaurant’s smokers are suffocating the area with fumes.
A&M BBQ opened in Sebastopol in June 2024 and instantly racked up aloyal following, but now it’s at the center of a messy fight over its outdoor cooking equipment.
During a City Council meeting, local residents finally broke their silence. Megan Cowan described the situation toSFGateas “untenable” and said conditions worsened after the business installed larger smokers with taller smokestacks,.
Pitmaster and owner Kristopher Austin was genuinely blindsided by the backlash.
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“I never wanted to be a nuisance to anyone,” Austin told the outlet.
What started as a neighborhood complaint has snowballed into a zoning nightmare that could actually shut the restaurant down.
Austin said city officials approached the business in March and asked that one of its two smokers be removed. The smoker is now in storage, reducing the restaurant’s production capacity.
Sebastopol City Manager Mary Gourley said that in April, A&M BBQ was told its commercial smokers were not allowed at that location because local zoning rules ban outdoor commercial barbecues there.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
