Dubuque, IA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Section 7-5A-9 is a single, direct prohibition: no person may urinate or defecate in or upon any public or common property, and the section names streets, alleys and sidewalks as examples without limiting the ban to that list. The reach extends beyond city-owned property to "any other place where the person could reasonably expect to be seen by the public," so a fenced but visible side yard or an open parking lot can trigger the same violation as a downtown sidewalk. The only carve-out is for private restrooms and for public facilities that are actually designated for urination or defecation, meaning a portable toilet at a festival or a park restroom building satisfies the exception while an alley or riverfront bluff does not.

The section sits in article A of title 7, chapter 5, the general offenses article enforced citywide by the Dubuque Police Department alongside disorderly conduct, littering and the other public-nuisance offenses in the same article. Adopted by Ordinance 18-16 on May 16, 2016, it postdates and stands apart from the 2007-Code-era offenses codified earlier in the same chapter, reflecting a more recent council decision to address the conduct directly rather than folding it into the older disorderly-conduct or littering sections.