OCEANSIDE --- City officials are considering banning alcohol in all city parks and have formed a panel to study the idea over the next year.

The panel -- formed earlier this month by the city's Parks and Recreation Commission -- will hold its first meeting in September.

It will consist of three commission members and staff members from the Parks and Recreation Department, the Police Department, and possibly the city's attorney's office, said Megan Brady, a program specialist with the parks department.

Alcohol is currently banned without a special permit at Fireside, John Landes, Cesar Chavez, Buccaneer, Buddy Todd, Joe Balderrama, Libby Lake, Rotary, Santa Fe and Tyson parks. Residents also need a special permit to drink at either the beach or the harbor.

Brady said it was a decision in June to ban alcohol at Fireside that served as the impetus for the commission to take a more broad look at banning alcohol in all parks. Oceanside has 38 parks and recreation areas.

Brady said the commission wanted to take a more comprehensive look at the alcohol policy, rather than banning alcohol at parks one by one.

"The decision was to look at situation and find out what the community wants," Brady said, adding that the committee could take a year to make the recommendations.

In the last year, alcohol was banned at Cesar Chavez and John Landes because police officials raised concerns about drinking in both parks. Chavez is a small park in the Crown Heights section of the city. Police officials said they also had problems at John Landes with people drinking and interrupting youth sports.

Dannah Hosford, a prevention specialist for the Tri-City Prevention Collaborative, said it has been pushing for the ban to make Oceanside parks more family friendly and reduce the amount of underage drinking in the city's parks.

Hosford said allowing drinking in some parks gives easy access to alcohol for underage drinkers, and that the laws on drinking shouldn't vary from park to park.

"Oceanside isn't consistent," Hosford said. "A uniform and consistent policy would clarify (things) for residents."

Vista Community Clinic oversees the funding of the Tri-City Prevention Collaborative, which is a partnership between several social service agencies. The goal of the group is to reduce the harm of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs in the cities of Carlsbad, Oceanside, and Vista, according to the group's Web site.

"It's not just a problem in one neighborhood," Hosford said. "We feel that a ban in all parks can solve the problem of shifting (drinking) from one park to another."

One of the community groups that has been pushing for the ban is the Eastside Neighborhood Association. Carmela Munoz, a drug prevention specializing for Vista Community Clinic and a member of the Eastside organization, wants alcohol banned in all parks.

"We want to prevent the shifting of problems," Munoz said.

Banning alcohol in all parks would not prevent residents from drinking at parks for special events. Residents can get a special permit from the police department. Police officials said those residents who take the time to get a special permit often cause little or no trouble when drinking in the city's parks.

Contact staff writer Rob O'Dell at (760) 901-4067 or rodell@nctimes.com.