Palm Beach Gardens, FL Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Section 6-7(a) makes it unlawful for anyone to drink any spirituous, vinous, malt, or other intoxicating liquors in or upon any public street, avenue, alley, park, or other public way or place in the city. The only carve-out is a city manager's authorization to consume alcohol at a city park event under the parks chapter, and even that authorization must be denied under § 6-7(b) if the chief of police believes it would impair public safety or peace. A second, more detailed ban sits at § 6-8, adopted after the city council found that uncontrolled drinking around commercial parking lots contributes to lewd behavior, verbal harassment, intoxicated disorderly conduct, destruction of property, excessive noise, and litter.

Under § 6-8(c), it is unlawful to drink or possess an open alcoholic beverage within 500 feet of a commercial establishment's parking lot, and separately unlawful to possess an open container or drink at all while inside a motor vehicle on any public or semipublic road, lot, or parking area. The section carves out sealed containers being transported for sale, alcohol locked in a glove compartment or trunk, and for-hire drivers such as taxi, limousine, or bus operators who are not themselves drinking. Because Chapter 6 sets no violation-specific fine, an offense defaults to the citywide general penalty in § 1-18: up to $500, up to 60 days in jail, or both, with each day of a continuing violation counted separately.