Alcohol Laws Vary on Brevard Beaches
Booze-on-the-beach restrictions form a geographic patchwork quilt along the Space Coast, practically requiring sunbathers to consult maps before cracking open Coors Lights.
But outside of the boisterous Cocoa Beach spring-break and summer-weekend scene, barrier-island officials report few alcohol-fueled problems on the sand.
And though prohibitions are on the books — like those banning dogs on the beach — they are routinely ignored and rarely enforced.
Asked about recent alcohol-related incidents on his beach, Satellite Beach Police Chief Jeff Pearson replied, “I’ll bet I can count them on one hand in the 24 years I’ve been here.”
A Satellite Beach ordinance prohibits consumption of alcoholic beverages on city property, including beaches, without a permit.
“You’re not allowed to drink on the beach. But we’re not going to make people get permits if they’re two people who are going to sit on the beach and go fishing at night,” Pearson said.
“We don’t go down there and look for it. We’re patrolling the beaches — but we don’t look in people’s coolers,” he said
Paul Gougelman serves as town attorney for Indialantic and Melbourne Beach. Throughout the decades, he said Space Coast communities debated drinking regulations after major problems or incidents arose.
Gougelman likened these ordinances to “tools” for police officers and sheriff’s deputies to use when dealing with troublemaking beach visitors.
In May, the Melbourne Beach Town Commission unanimously approved first reading of an ordinance banning booze from the beach. But after residents objected, commissioners unanimously shipped the idea back to the drawing board in June.
Melbourne Beach Police Chief Dan Duncan said his department has filed only 115 alcohol-related charges — including DUIs — since January 2007. That’s about two charges per month.
After rejecting a beach-alcohol ban, town commissioners will vote instead Wednesday on prohibiting open containers from commercial parking lots.
Indian Harbour Beach Police Chief Bobby Sullivan could not recall any alcohol-related problems in recent years on the sand in his 2-square-mile community.
Robert Lefever, Cape Canaveral parks and recreation director, said his city’s younger residents tend to gravitate toward neighboring Cocoa Beach. He said his city’s beach-related issues are overflowing trash cans at Cherie Down Park and parking shortages, not people partying on the sand.
“We don’t have the activity that they have in Cocoa Beach because we don’t have the beachfront bars and restaurants. It’s not been a negative effect for Cape Canaveral,” Lefever said.
In December 2006, the Cape Canaveral City Council approved an ordinance preventing future businesses from selling alcohol within 300 feet of the Atlantic Ocean or Banana River.
Indialantic doesn’t allow drinking at most beach areas, but police are required to first issue verbal warnings and allow “reasonable opportunity to comply” before pressing charges against beach drinkers, Sgt. Mike Casey said.
Casey said his department makes a few such arrests every year, mostly to troublemakers and vagrants.
“We try to keep it a family atmosphere down there,” he said.
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