Upper Darby, PA Public Conduct: Public Alcohol Use (2026)

Chapter 216, adopted by Township Council on September 7, 1976 under Ordinance No. 2502, splits the ban into two separate offenses. Section 216-2 prohibits willfully consuming "any beverage containing any percentage of alcohol whatsoever" on public ways or places. Section 216-3 separately bans possessing or transporting an open container of alcohol, of any percentage, in the same public spaces. Because the two sections are written and charged separately, a person carrying an unopened container inside a bag is not in violation of Section 216-3 the moment the seal is broken and the beverage is exposed for consumption or pouring, while actually drinking triggers Section 216-2 on its own.

"Public way or place" is defined broadly in Section 216-1 as any way or place "open to the use of the public as a matter of right for the purposes of vehicular or pedestrian travel," which reaches sidewalks, streets, parking lots held open to the public, and parks. The chapter applies to any person, resident or not. Enforcement runs through Section 216-4, which routes charges to the Magisterial District Judge with jurisdiction over the violation as a non-traffic criminal citation rather than a civil fine, meaning a conviction is a summary criminal record, not just a ticket paid administratively.

There is no permit or exception carved out in the chapter for block parties, sidewalk cafes, or licensed outdoor service areas; those situations are handled instead through the Township's separate liquor-licensing and special-event processes, not through Chapter 216 itself.