New Hanover County, NC Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)
Key Facts
- Prohibited act
- Urinating/defecating outside a building, publicly observable
- First offense
- $100.00 civil penalty
- Second offense
- $300.00 civil penalty
- Third+ offense
- $500.00 civil penalty
- Alternate charge
- Misdemeanor under G.S. 14-4
- Adopted
- Ord. of 8-19-2002
Summary
New Hanover County makes it unlawful to defecate or urinate outside the confines of a building where the public can observe it, treating the act as disorderly conduct under Sec. 38-101. A first offense draws a $100 civil citation, rising to $300 and then $500 for repeat violations, or the county can charge it as a misdemeanor instead.
(a)It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in any of the following acts of disorderly conduct:(1)To defecate or urinate outside the confines of a building such that the activity is observable by the public. ... (b)It is the expressed intent of the board of commissioners that this section be supplemental and additional to the common law and other ordinances and statutes of the county and shall not be deemed to abrogate, abolish or supplant any ordinance, statute or common law offense. Violations of the provisions of section 38-101 may be punished by a civil penalty to be recovered in the nature of a debt of $100.00 for the first violation, $300.00 for the second violation, and $500.00 for the third and subsequent violations. Violations may also be punished as misdemeanor under G.S. 14-4.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 15 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
Sec. 38-101 sits in Article IV, Breaches of the Peace, and groups public defecation or urination together with riotous or violent activity and failure to disperse on a law enforcement officer's order, treating all three as disorderly conduct. The trigger is not the act alone but visibility: the section applies only where the activity is observable by the public, so it targets conduct on streets, sidewalks, parking lots and other open areas rather than private, screened locations. Subsection (b) makes clear the ordinance is meant to supplement, not replace, common-law offenses and other state statutes and county ordinances covering the same ground, so a person can still be charged under separate state disorderly-conduct or indecent-exposure statutes for the same incident.
Sec. 00 for a third or subsequent violation, all collected through the county's civil citation process rather than criminal court. S. 14-4, the general state statute for enforcing local ordinance violations criminally, which exposes a violator to a fine and possible jail time set by the court rather than the fixed civil schedule. New Hanover County adopted this structure by ordinance on August 19, 2002, carrying forward Code 1978 § 12-121.
Violations & Fines
First violation: $100.00 civil penalty. Second violation: $300.00. Third and any subsequent violation: $500.00, each collected as a civil debt through New Hanover County's citation process. The county may instead pursue the charge as a misdemeanor under G.S. 14-4, which carries a court-set fine and the possibility of jail time in place of the fixed civil schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is public urination a misdemeanor or a civil fine in New Hanover County?
Does the ban only apply if someone actually sees it happen?
Can I be charged under both this ordinance and state law for the same act?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in New Hanover County
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