Homestead, FL Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Sec. 17-25 targets premises rather than individual drinkers: it makes it unlawful for a property owner and/or business operator to allow any person, including themselves, to publicly consume alcoholic beverages on the exterior of the business, or in the interior of the business when that consumption is readily visible from outside, on any property that isn't licensed for the sale and consumption of alcohol. The provision applies notwithstanding any other City Code section to the contrary, meaning it overrides conflicting Code language. It reaches both outdoor drinking on the property and indoor drinking that can be seen through windows or open doors from the sidewalk or street, so a business without an alcohol license can't let patrons drink visibly even if the alcohol never physically leaves the building.

Sec. 17-25(b) sets tiered fines rather than jail time: up to $250 for the first violation and up to $500 for the second or any later violation, giving the city an escalating enforcement tool against repeat locations. A severability clause in Sec. 17-25(c) keeps the rest of the ordinance in force even if a court strikes down part of it. Because the ordinance is aimed at unlicensed commercial premises, it does not by its own terms regulate general open-container drinking on public streets or in city parks; that conduct falls outside this specific section.