Delaware County, PA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 141-3B of the Parks and Recreation Areas chapter, readopted in its entirety on February 1, 2023 by Ord. No. 2023-2, prohibits alcoholic beverages or controlled substances of any kind in all county parks. The only carve-out is for a specific event or events at a designated county park, and that carve-out requires an affirmative resolution from County Council itself, not a decision by the Parks and Recreation Department or an on-site permit. Because the general permit process in §141-2 covers picnics, playing fields and building rentals but does not itself authorize alcohol, a group planning to serve alcohol at a county park event needs County Council's separate resolution on top of any park-use permit.

The prohibition sits alongside other Chapter 141 conduct rules enforced the same way: possession or discharge of firearms, weapons, bows, air guns and fireworks is separately banned under §141-3H, and controlled substances covered here also intersect with the county's separate marijuana civil-violation ordinance in Chapter 173, Article II, which applies countywide to public possession or use of small amounts of marijuana. The rule applies at every county park and recreation area, including Rose Tree Park, Glen Providence Park and Upland Park, without a municipality-by-municipality carve-out, since Chapter 141 is countywide and does not include a local-ordinance-exception clause like Chapters 125 and 173 do for other conduct.