People sleep in the shade Thursday at Frank Wright Plaza near Las Vegas City Hall. A ban on public urination and defecation approved Wednesday by the City Council also makes it illegal to sleep within 500 feet of urine or feces, but that provision won't be enforced. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

A new Las Vegas ordinance that bans using the outdoors as a toilet also mistakenly makes it illegal to sleep near a "deposit" of urine or feces.

The Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday unanimously passed the ordinance, making it a misdemeanor offense to go to the bathroom in a public place unless it's in an "appropriate sanitary facility."

The ordinance also contains a provision making it illegal to "knowingly establish" temporary, portable or open sleeping quarters within 500 feet of any "deposit" of urine or feces, unless that deposit is made in an appropriate sanitary facility.

Asked about the sleeping-near-feces provision on Thursday, Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic said it got into the ordinance by mistake and will not be enforced.

"We were reviewing all park rules, including sleeping, camping and a number of other things people associate with parks," he said. "The decision, by me, was to take this (provision) out of the defecation/urination bill and look at it with respect to park rules in general. It was my mistake that it didn't come out."

The law has already been signed by Mayor Oscar Goodman. But Jerbic said city officials will contact law enforcement personnel and tell them not to enforce it.

"They don't enforce it until we train them to, anyway," Jerbic said.

The ordinance will be revised to eliminate that provision and appear on the Sept. 6 council agenda, he said.

Jerbic said that provision probably will reappear later, however, as part of new park-related ordinances governing where it is appropriate to sleep or camp.

Homeless and civil rights advocates called the ordinance, and in particular the provision about sleeping near feces or urine, another attempt by city officials to target the homeless.

"Seriously, are you kidding me?" asked Lee Rowland, public advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. "I don't know how on earth a police officer would determine whether someone has knowingly set up shop next to" urine or feces.

She called the provision "yet another example of the city's totally ineffectual, unconstitutional and impractical war on the homeless."

Linda Lera-Randle El, director of the Straight from the Streets organization that works with the homeless, said a lack of public toilets sometimes makes it impossible for homeless people to find an "appropriate facility."

Jerbic said the provision wouldn't have targeted the homeless, but is meant to address public health issues.

"We are talking about camping or sleeping near unsanitary conditions," he said.

Jerbic said he plans to talk to public health officials about what is a safe distance to camp from "unsanitary conditions." When the measure does appear again, the allowed distance between sleepers and urine or feces will be much shorter than 500 feet, Jerbic said.

"It will be considerably less than that," he said.

Goodman and City Council members did not return calls seeking comment.

The new ordinance is intended to address recent judicial rulings overturning the law city officials had used to cite those caught urinating and defecating in public. City marshals used to rely on a law banning "immodest, improper or indecent behavior" to crack down on public urination and defecation.

Las Vegas Municipal Judge Abbi Silver ruled the law was too broad and unconstitutional. District Judge Lee Gates agreed, and the ordinance was thrown out.

The new ordinance contains a provision making it illegal for any person who has urinated or defecated in a public place to "fail to clean or remove the material deposited" immediately. Earlier versions also included a ban on public vomiting, but the council removed that provision at Wednesday's meeting.

"The council didn't want to impact people who might be ill," city spokesman Jace Radke said. "The idea was that urinating or defecating in public is a conscious decision," while vomiting might not be.

Those cited for violating the new ordinance can be punished with up to a $1,000 fine or up to six months in jail.

The city has begun enforcing another new ordinance that bars the public from feeding homeless people in city parks. Four people have been cited under the ordinance that makes it a misdemeanor to provide "food or meals to the indigent for free or for a nominal fee" in parks.

That law is aimed at preventing so-called "soup kitchens" from operating in parks. Residents have complained that the impromptu soup kitchens attract the homeless and render the parks unusable by families.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has been a vocal advocate of cracking down on the homeless in city parks. Goodman has said feeding the homeless there draws them away from social service providers who can meet their other needs, such as treatment for mental health and substance abuse.

A federal lawsuit, prepared by the ACLU, has been filed asking a judge to declare the ordinance against feeding the indigent unconstitutional. The lawsuit seeks an injunction that would prevent city marshals from enforcing the new law.