Kalamazoo, MI Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 22-57 of the Kalamazoo City Code prohibits consuming or possessing any uncapped, open container of alcoholic liquor, as defined by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission Act, on the City's public streets, parkways or sidewalks, or in any other place open to the general public. That reach extends to stores and establishments doing business with the public that are not licensed to serve alcohol, so an open beer carried through an unlicensed retail shop violates the section just as one carried down a sidewalk does.

The section carves out § 33-25 of the Code and situations covered by a special license: alcoholic liquor may be sold, possessed or consumed in a public place during the period of a special license, but only with the City Commission's specific approval and in conformance with the license's conditions and any special license granted by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. A related but separate provision, § 22-42.1, bars open containers specifically in City-owned or operated parking lots and structures and on the Kalamazoo Mall, again subject to the same special-license carve-out.

Because § 22-57 does not set its own fine, a violation defaults to the Code's general penalty at § 1-7: a fine of up to $500 and costs of prosecution, imprisonment for up to 90 days, or both, with each day of a continuing violation treated as a separate offense. Enforcement falls to the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, the City's combined police and fire agency, which can issue a citation or make an arrest for a violation observed on the street, sidewalk, parkway or in an unlicensed public establishment.