Durham, NC Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Section 26-2, in chapter 26's article on environment, litter, vandalism and pollution, bans urinating or defecating anywhere in the city except in a designated water closet or toilet facility. The prohibition is written broadly to cover 'any public place, sidewalk, street, alleyway or right-of-way or in any public building or on any private property,' so it reaches conduct on someone else's land as well as in the street. The only carve-out is for private property, and only if the person has written permission of the owner or the person in lawful possession: the code makes that written permission 'an affirmative defense to the charge,' meaning the burden is on the accused to produce it rather than on the city to disprove it.

There is no separate exception for public urination tied to a lack of nearby restrooms, medical necessity, or intoxication; the ordinance's only stated safe harbor is a designated facility or documented landowner consent. The section sits alongside Sec. 26-1 (creating noxious odors in assembly places) and Sec. 26-3 (burning animal carcasses) in article I of chapter 26, the catch-all public-nuisance article that predates the later noise and litter articles. Like those neighboring sections, Sec. 26-2 was last amended by the 2022 general recodification ordinance (Ord. No. 15982) that updated cross-references and penalty language citywide, but the core prohibition traces to the 1982 code and a 1998 amendment.