Tamarac, FL Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Tamarac Code § 3-1, carried from the 1975 Code and last amended by Ord. No. 2001-23 in 2001, defines an alcoholic beverage as any beverage containing one-half of one percent or more alcohol by volume, and defines a licensed establishment as any business holding a state license to sell alcohol under F.S. chapters 561 through 568. The section bans three things: drinking alcohol on any public parking area, public street, highway, or sidewalk that adjoins or is appurtenant to a licensed establishment; drinking on the premises of any establishment that is licensed only for off-premises sales, such as a package store; and, for licensees or their employees, selling, serving, or knowingly permitting the consumption of alcohol in a parking area next to their licensed establishment.

This effectively bars open-container drinking in the parking lots and adjoining sidewalks of bars, restaurants, and liquor stores across the city, not just on a single downtown strip. The prohibition sits alongside Tamarac's alcohol-sale hours in §§ 3-2 and 3-3, which bar off-premises and on-premises sales between 2:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., and § 3-4, which lets the city commission grant a special permit, subject to a commission-set fee and a two-year review by the city manager or designee, extending on-premises hours to as late as 4:00 a.m. on Thursdays through Saturdays and on New Year's and St.

Patrick's Day. Because § 3-1 sets no unique penalty, an open-container citation defaults to the general municipal penalty in § 1-13, enforced through the Broward Sheriff's Office contract patrol and, for licensees, potential revocation proceedings before the city commission for repeat problem locations.