Pontiac, MI Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Pontiac City Code § 10-2(a) prohibits drinking, consuming, transporting, carrying or possessing any alcoholic liquor, except in the original package with the seal unbroken, on public streets, alleys, parks, sidewalks, parkways, public parking lots, or private parking lots open to the general public, unless that area is properly licensed. The Code defines the parking-lot reach broadly: any lot where the public parks in conjunction with a business, enterprise, commercial establishment, office building or apartment building counts as "open to the general public," so private lots outside licensed premises are covered too.

Subsection (b) separately bars consuming liquor in any public park, stadium or place of amusement not licensed to sell alcohol for on-premises consumption, carving out only the Phoenix Center Plaza, and only when the liquor is purchased or received free from a group holding both a state liquor control commission permit and a city license to sell or give away alcohol at that event. "Alcoholic liquor" is defined at § 10-1 as any beverage that is at least one-half of one percent alcohol by volume and fit for human consumption, and "enforcement officer or inspector" is defined to include Pontiac Police officers along with housing, licensing and zoning inspectors.

Because § 10-2 sits within the chapter's Article I general provisions, a violation is governed by the chapter-wide penalty at § 10-11: a municipal civil infraction carrying a fine of not less than $300.00 nor more than $1,000.00, plus costs, damages, expenses and other sanctions. The chapter's repeat-offender clause increases that floor for anyone previously found responsible for the same violation: no less than $500.00 for a first repeat offense and no less than $750.00 for a second or later repeat offense, both plus costs.