IRVINE : Proposal Would Ban Drinking in Public

Public drinking in Irvine would be outlawed for the first time under an ordinance given initial approval this week.

The City Council voted unanimously to prohibit drinking in parking lots--so-called “tailgate parties”--and on streets and sidewalks in the city. The measure is intended to discourage drunk driving and fights among young people who sometimes gather outside bars and liquor stores to drink.

Final approval of the ordinance is scheduled for Jan. 8, and the law would take effect in February.

In almost any other city in the county, “you can’t consume alcoholic beverages in public,” said Marsha Burgess, the city’s community services superintendent. “You can in Irvine.”

Under the law, anyone possessing an opened alcoholic beverage container in a public parking lot or on a sidewalk may be cited. The law will still allow drinking by adults in public parks.

“It’s not intended to be so prohibitive that it gets in the way of people enjoying themselves in public settings,” Burgess said.

State law prohibits being drunk in public but does not ban simply drinking in public, leaving that practice for cities to regulate. Most Orange County cities outlaw public drinking in some form, ranging from banning all drinking to making drinking illegal only in specific places, such as parks.

Irvine’s proposed law was written because of problems with public drinking in parking lots behind restaurants, bars and markets, and in parkings lots at public venues like Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, Burgess said. It has been increasingly common in many cities for young people to save money by having several drinks in the parking lot before spending an evening inside a bar or restaurant, she said.

A local study completed last year found that young people drinking in parking lots led to fights, increased drunk driving and more problems inside bars and other places whose patrons walk in already intoxicated, she said. The study, called the Youth Alcohol Access Project, recommended the proposed law voted on Tuesday.