Kirkwood, MO Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Kirkwood Code of Ordinances § 17-156 is a single, broad sentence: it is unlawful for any person within the City to urinate in or upon any street, park, any public place open to the public, or private place open to public view, other than in restroom facilities provided for that activity. The section sits in Article VI of Chapter 17 among the City's general offenses, alongside neighboring rules on loitering (§ 17-74) and disorderly conduct in public places, and it applies anywhere inside Kirkwood's city limits, not just downtown or the business district.

Because § 17-156 sets no penalty of its own, a violation is punished under the citywide general penalty in § 1-8 of the Code: a fine of not less than $5 nor more than $1,000, imprisonment for up to three months, or both, with each day a continuing violation treated as a separate offense (though a public urination incident is ordinarily a single, one-time act rather than a continuing one). Kirkwood Police can issue a citation on the spot when an officer witnesses the conduct or receives a report identifying the person responsible; the ordinance does not require the incident to occur in a location typically associated with alcohol use, so it reaches conduct in a park, on a sidewalk, or in a store's parking lot in equal measure.