Lakewood, CO Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Section 9.50.070, in Chapter 9.50, "Disorderly Conduct," reads in full: "It is unlawful for any person to urinate or defecate in the public view, whether in or on public or private property, except in a room or area designated and equipped for such purposes." The trigger is public view, not public property: relieving yourself on your own porch or in a private backyard where passersby can see you violates the section the same as doing so on a city sidewalk, while using a restroom on private property falls outside it because the space is "designated and equipped for such purposes."

Chapter 9.50 groups this offense with related public-order violations, including disorderly conduct (Section 9.50.010), disrupting a lawful assembly (9.50.020), obstructing a highway or passageway (9.50.030), harassment (9.50.040), and public indecency (9.50.080), but Section 9.50.070 has no chapter-specific fine schedule of its own. That means a violation is punished under the citywide default at Section 1.16.020: a fine of up to $2,650.00, imprisonment for up to 365 days, or both, with the Municipal Court able to suspend all or part of the sentence and place a defendant on probation for up to one year, and to order restitution to any victim for actual loss caused by the offense.

Because the section sits in the disorderly conduct chapter rather than the health code, it is prosecuted as a public-order offense in Lakewood Municipal Court rather than through a civil code-enforcement or nuisance-abatement track, and each act is charged and proven independently rather than through a graduated notice-and-cure process like the property-maintenance chapters use.