Madison Township trustees will look closer at new state law on fireworks - News-Herald.com
Madison Township trustees want to do more research before taking an official stance on a new state law that will allow people to set off consumer-grade fireworks in Ohio on specific holidays starting next year.
Township Police Chief Matthew Byers provided trustees with a summary of House Bill 172, which was signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Nov. 8.
The new law will allow adults in Ohio to discharge consumer-grade fireworks, such as bottle rockets and Roman candles, on their own properties or other private properties with the owner’s permission. Previously, Ohio required anyone buying consumer-grade fireworks to sign a form promising that they would take the fireworks out of the state within 48 hours.
House Bill 172, which goes into effect July 1 of next year, will allow people in Ohio to set off consumer-grade fireworks on specific holidays and days surrounding these observances. Some of those eligible days include July 3, 4 and 5, and the Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays before and after the Fourth of July; New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day; Labor Day weekend; and Memorial Day weekend.
However, House Bill 172 also has provisions that allows counties, townships and municipalities to become either partially or totally exempt to the new law.
First, the governing body can restrict the dates and times when consumer-grade fireworks are allowed to be set off. These same governing bodies also could “opt out” from the new law, and prohibit the discharge of all consumer-grade fireworks.
During the Dec. 14 Madison Township trustees meeting, Byers said he felt it was his responsibility to advise the community’s government leaders that they “do have the option of restricting or limiting or banning what the state of Ohio is allowing.”
“So I believe we have some time to do that, but I wanted to bring it to the board’s attention now, if you wanted to do some research and think about it,” Byers said.
Trustee Peter Wayman said he desired more time to study the issue. But he also believes that the township should set some parameters for residents to discharge consumer-grade fireworks.
“I don’t think we should leave it wide open,” he said. “I think we should put some restrictions on it, personally.”
Trustee Kenneth Gauntner Jr. said the noise created by fireworks can be troublesome for veterans who are living with post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. In addition, he said the township Police Department typically is inundated with complaint calls about fireworks around holidays such as the Fourth of July.
Byers said trustees are facing a no-win situation, regardless of how they react to the legislation.
He said it seems that about half the community feels there should be no limits when it comes to setting off fireworks. Meanwhile, the other half believes that harsh penalties should be imposed on anyone caught discharging fireworks.
“I think that whatever action the board takes, there’s about half of the community that will be unhappy,” the chief said.
Township Solicitor Gary Pasqualone said he will provide trustees with further information about the new law, and alternatives that the community’s government has for conforming to, revising or rejecting provisions of the measure.
“I’ll put something together,” he said.
source: https://www.news-herald.com/2021/12/18/madison-township-trustees-will-look-closer-at-new-state-law-on-fireworks
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