Fountain Valley, CA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Chapter 6.06 of the Fountain Valley Municipal Code is a two-section chapter adopted by Ordinance 904 in 1981. Section 6.06.010 applies to any person, on any private or public property within the City of Fountain Valley. The single exception is conduct within the confines of a restroom toilet facility or a temporary sanitary outhouse facility. The wording covers both urination and defecation in identical terms, and the text makes no exception for time of day or for how visible the act is.

Because the rule reaches private property, the text gives an owner's consent no effect: outside a toilet facility, the act is still prohibited. A portable toilet placed for a construction site or a special event fits the temporary sanitary outhouse language, while a permanent restroom counts as a restroom toilet facility.

Section 6.06.020 sets the penalty. A violation is a misdemeanor, punishable on conviction by a fine of not more than $500, imprisonment in the County Jail for up to six months, or both. Other parts of the code add layers. Chapter 1.13 lets an enforcement official issue an administrative citation for any code violation, at up to $100 for a first violation, $200 for a second within one year and $500 for each additional one within one year, and § 1.16.010 allows a prosecutor to charge a misdemeanor as an infraction. Those infraction fines follow the same $100, $200 and $500 ladder.