St. Lucie County, FL Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 32-94 sits in chapter 32's article IV, "Public Conduct," which by § 32-87 covers every county-owned, leased or controlled property: parks, preserves, playgrounds, recreation areas, beaches such as Walton Rocks and Wild Cat Cove, and county buildings. The rule itself is a blanket prohibition: possessing or drinking alcoholic beverages anywhere in that footprint is unlawful, full stop, unless the board of county commissioners has expressly permitted it. That exception is separate from the general group-function permit process in §§ 32-97 and 32-98: getting a director-issued permit for a picnic or gathering does not itself authorize alcohol, because only the board, not the parks director, can grant the § 32-94 exception.

The section dates to the county's original 1982 parks-conduct ordinance (Ord. No. 82-10) and was tightened in 1987 (Ord. No. 87-41) to its current language. It operates alongside the article's other use restrictions, including the sunset-to-sunrise closure in § 32-88 and the vehicle and parking rules in § 32-93 enforced by the Fort Pierce Police Department or the county sheriff's office, so a person drinking after closing hours or from a parked vehicle can face more than one citation from the same encounter.