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

Section 3-3 of the Lee County Code of Ordinances, adopted in 1984 and last amended in 1993, defines 'public beach' broadly to include any beach below the mean high water line, any beach owned by Lee County, any beach carrying a customary-use right or public easement, and the foreshore of tidal navigable waters owned by the State of Florida. 'Semi-public parking lot' covers any lot where the public parks in connection with a business, office or apartment building. Under subsection (b), it is unlawful to drink or consume any alcoholic beverage, or to carry or possess one except in its original package with the seal unbroken, on a semi-public parking lot or a public street, sidewalk, parkway, beach or parking lot in unincorporated Lee County.

The ban therefore covers the walk from a beach parking lot to the sand as much as it covers a downtown sidewalk. Three narrow exemptions appear in subsection (c): people collecting empty containers for deposit value or taking part in a litter-control campaign; a minister, pastor, priest or rabbi carrying sacramental wine solely for religious services; and any carrier holding a valid State alcoholic-beverage license. Because the section does not set its own fine, a violation is prosecuted under the County's general penalty at Sec.

1-7, which treats Code violations as misdemeanors. The ordinance applies only within unincorporated Lee County; it does not reach Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Bonita Springs, Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach or Estero, each of which enforces its own municipal open-container rule.