West New York, NJ Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Article II of Chapter 273, Conduct in Public, was adopted on 8-18-1982 as Ordinance No. 1556 by the Board of Commissioners. Section 273-4 is one sentence: no person shall on public property, or on private property which is in open view to the public, urinate, defecate, void or in any manner expose their genitals.

Section 273-3 defines both location terms broadly. Public property means streets, sidewalks, public buildings, public parks, public recreational facilities and all other places open to the public. Private property in open view to the public includes but is not limited to buildings, walls, porches, alleys, yard areas, vacant lots, driveways, any area adjacent to public sidewalks or streets, and the hallways and vestibule areas of private buildings. A person in a Bergenline Avenue doorway, a driveway beside a sidewalk or an apartment-building vestibule is therefore inside the rule, not outside it.

The prohibition is not limited to a particular hour. It reaches urinating, defecating, voiding and exposure of the genitals, and the verb list is in the text itself, so a single act on a covered location is enough. The text contains no intent element and no exception for private bathrooms, which means the question is only whether the location is public property or in open view.

Section 273-5 sends penalties to the general violation and penalty section of the Code, § 1-16. Section 1-16A provides that a person violating any chapter is punished on conviction by a fine not to exceed $1,000 or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 90 days, or both, and that each violation is a separate and distinct offense. Chapter 273 is not among the listed exceptions to that general penalty.