Charlotte, NC Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Section 15-83 bans urinating or defecating on any public place, sidewalk, street, alleyway or right-of-way, in any public building outside toilet facilities, or on private property. The code builds in one specific affirmative defense: having the written permission of the owner or person in lawful possession of the private property being used. The section was recodified from the 1985 Code section 15-88 and rewritten by Ordinance No. 720 § 2, adopted February 12, 2024, placing it in Chapter 15, Article IV, Offenses Against Public Morality and Decency, alongside prostitution and public masturbation offenses.

S. S. 14-4. Because the offense sits in the public-morality article rather than the sanitation or nuisance articles, CMPD officers, not code enforcement, typically issue the citation, and the offense applies citywide rather than only in designated public spaces such as parks or the uptown business district. The written-permission defense only reaches private property; there is no comparable defense for using a public sidewalk, street or right-of-way, so a person cited for a public-property violation cannot rely on anyone's permission to use that spot.