Front-Lawn Tippling OK at 1-Family Residences

Residents can legally drink alcohol on their front lawns again--as long as they live in a single-family home and not in an apartment or condominium complex.

The change came as city officials sought to better define “public places” for the municipal alcohol code.

Laws against drinking in public have been on the municipal books since 1977, but the city has had trouble winning convictions because its definition of public places was unclear.

The city passed an ordinance in December that broadened the definition from parks, schools and other obvious public areas to parked cars, driveways, porches, hallways, lobbies and front lawns.

The changes prompted angry calls and letters from residents, and the stricter definitions were soon revoked. This week, the council tried again.

The new restrictions cover apartment halls, motels and all the areas originally forbidden for drinking, with a new provision: “Public place shall specifically exclude the front yard area of single family residences, extending from the front of the structure to the public right-of-way.”

A proposal to confine the exemption to owner-occupied homes never made the final draft because City Atty. David A. De Berry said he had doubts that it would be constitutional, or enforceable.

Some questioned whether better-kept condominiums also should be exempt, but De Berry said adults drinking outside might be offensive to neighbors in the same building who have children playing on the lawn.

Police Chief John R. Robertson said the law would not be used to harass people. “We do not go looking for this, we generally respond to complaints,” he said.