Coon Rapids, MN Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 7-102, revised May 4, 2004 under Ordinance 1836, makes it unlawful for any person to drink intoxicating liquor or 3.2 percent malt liquor on or within any premises that is not licensed for the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages under City Code Chapter 5-200, the city's alcoholic beverage licensing chapter. The rule reaches public streets, sidewalks, parks, and other unlicensed public or private spaces alike, since the statute's only carve-outs are the drinker's own private property or drinking with the express permission of whoever owns the premises where the drinking occurs.

Because the prohibition is tied to Chapter 5-200 licensing rather than a standalone open-container definition, any location without an active liquor, wine, or 3.2 percent malt liquor license under that chapter, including a business parking lot, a vacant lot, or a street right-of-way, falls within the ban. The section sits in Chapter 7-100's General Provisions alongside other public-order offenses like urinating in public and disorderly assault, reflecting that the city treats unlicensed public drinking as a general nuisance and public-safety matter enforced by the Coon Rapids Police Department rather than as a liquor-licensing violation against a business.