PORT ANGELES — A proposed city law banning the sale and discharge of consumer fireworks beginning in 2016 was greeted with passionate comments for and against the proposal at a packed City Council hearing Tuesday.
Fourteen speakers favored the prohibition within the city limits and 10 were opposed during a two-hour hearing on the ordinance.
The hearing will be continued to the next City Council meeting at 6 p.m. March 3 at City Hall, 321 E. Fifth St.
City Council members are expected to make a decision on the new law after the March 3 hearing, City Council member Cherie Kidd said this morning.
Speakers who favored the ban, which was proposed by the Port Angeles group Safer 4th of July, spoke of neighborhood “war zones” they said were created by rampant Fourth of July fireworks.
They said that pets are traumatized by explosions, veterans are forced to relive the wars they fought in and told of fire dangers and noise that characterize their lives every July 3-5.
“My neighborhood has indeed become a war zone,” Pat Flood said, adding she leaves her home during the holiday to protect her pets, which she said in turn leaves her home at risk.
But speakers against the ordinance argued that a ban would be ineffective given area Native American reservations where fireworks are sold unfettered by city ordinances that would otherwise make them illegal and said nonprofit clubs earn money for worthy causes, such as scholarships, by selling fireworks.
They said the problem was enforcement of existing restrictions that allow legal, consumer fireworks within the city limits only from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on the Fourth of July.
Illegal use of fireworks — either those too dangerous to be legal or those set off before 9 a.m. or after 11 p.m. on the Fourth of July — is a misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine.
Speakers in favor of fireworks framed their arguments, too, in terms of their rights and liberties as Americans.
“I don’t believe we should give up our rights to groups and their smaller definitions of patriotism,” Robert Briggs said.
“There has to be alternatives so a majority of people in town can be satisfied.”
The proposed ordinance is based on an ordinance in Lacey.
Small firework devices would be allowed.
They include unregulated “poppers” that are sold in stores, but not any devices that can be purchased at fireworks stands.
If Port Angeles bans fireworks, it will be the second city on the North Olympic Peninsula to do so. A ban on fireworks in Port Townsend began in 2003.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
