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

Section 1045.030 of the Minnetonka City Code, titled Liquor in Public Places, is the city's open container rule. It lists the places where it applies: within or on a motor vehicle on a public street or highway, on a parking area open to the public, or on private property without the written consent of the owner or occupant, or oral consent if the owner or occupant is present. Two acts are prohibited. The first is to drink an alcoholic beverage. The second is to possess on the person, or within immediate reach of the person, an open or unsealed article which contains an alcoholic beverage.

The code settles the most common dispute about reach by stating that location in the glove compartment is within the immediate reach of people sitting in the front seat of a motor vehicle, so a bottle stored there still counts. The consent language matters on private property such as a shopping center lot or a neighbor's driveway: written consent from the owner or occupant works, and so does oral consent when the owner or occupant is present. The section also carves out park property. The prohibition does not apply to park property where the consumption of alcoholic beverages has been permitted by the city, except that it does apply within or on a motor vehicle on such park property.

That exception keeps the vehicle rule intact even inside a park where drinking has been allowed. The Minnetonka Police Department enforces the section, and Section 1045.100 sets the penalty for the whole of Section 1045.