Lakeville, MN Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Lakeville City Code § 6-1-7 folds Minnesota's open bottle law, Minnesota Statutes section 169A.35, into the city code by reference, then adds the city's own possession-based prohibition in subsection B. It is a crime to have in possession any bottle or receptacle containing an alcoholic beverage, a distilled spirit, or 3.2 percent malt liquor once that container has been opened, its seal broken, or its contents partially removed, if the person is on a public street or sidewalk, or on a parking lot owned by the city, a shopping center parking lot, or the parking lot of any commercial establishment.

Because the prohibition is possession-based rather than tied to actual drinking, an opened can or bottle carried across a downtown Lakeville sidewalk or a shopping-center lot violates the section even if nobody is actively drinking from it at the time. The section was adopted by Ordinance 954 on January 4, 2016, replacing older, narrower open-container language and folding the state open bottle law's definitions and elements directly into local enforcement. Because it incorporates Minnesota Statutes section 169A.35 by reference, officers can charge violations either as a state open bottle offense or as a violation of the Lakeville ordinance covering the same conduct on city streets, sidewalks and the parking lots specifically named in the section.