Franklin County, FL Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 3-2 targets one specific location type: publicly owned boat ramps and docks in unincorporated Franklin County. The ordinance defines a 'ramp' as a facility owned and maintained by the county where boats on trailers are launched, and a 'dock' as a raised platform or walkway over water where boats may be loaded, unloaded, or tied temporarily but not overnight. 'Public' is defined broadly to include all residents, citizens, visitors and tourists of the county. Because the ban is written around these publicly owned facilities, it does not create a general open-container law for streets, sidewalks or private property; Franklin County has not adopted a countywide public-drinking ordinance in the code.

The penalty structure escalates with repeat offenses rather than treating every violation the same. A first violation carries an eighty-dollar civil penalty payable to the county. A second violation raises that to a one hundred fifty-dollar civil penalty. A third violation, and every violation after that, is elevated out of the civil track entirely and charged as a second-degree misdemeanor. The ordinance was adopted as Ordinance No. 2011-01 on February 15, 2011, and sits in Chapter 3, Alcoholic Beverages, alongside the county's separate hours-of-sale restrictions for licensed establishments under Section 3-1.