The St. Charles Parish Legislative Committee on Tuesday discussed an ordinance by Councilman Paul Hogan that would allow both the sale and popping of fireworks in the parish.
The meeting ended with many council members saying they would need a lot more time and information before they were ready to make any kind of decision.
Fireworks were banned in St. Charles Parish in a 1992 ordinance, largely because of the danger they presented to nearby industry. However, Hogan says that the ban on fireworks causes the parish to miss out on much-needed revenue.
Especially since residents are already using them.
“Fireworks are being bought outside of the parish and used inside the parish,” Hogan said.
Hogan’s ordinance would mirror a St. Bernard Parish ordinance that was passed last year. The ordinance restricts the shooting of fireworks to areas more than 1,000 feet away from churches, schools, gas stations and hospitals, and also restricts the types of fireworks that can be sold.
The ordinance would limit the sale of fireworks to those older than 16 and would mandate that all merchandise be behind a counter.
“No one buying fireworks would have access to them (in the store),” Hogan said. “They would have to tell the sales person what they wanted and have (the salesperson) get (the fireworks).”
Hogan also said that all the money the parish made from the sale of the fireworks would go to the Recreation Department.
“Aside from losing out on tax dollars, fireworks have been a part of American history forever,” he said.
Bayou Gauche resident Gwen Dufrene asked the council if the decision on whether or not to allow fireworks could be put to a resident vote, but Parish President V.J. St. Pierre said that wouldn’t be possible.
“The Attorney General said that any decision the council can make can’t be passed on to the citizens,” St. Pierre said.
St. Pierre also said that the money a parish receives from allowing fireworks isn’t as much as believed. He said most of the sellers deal in cash and don’t report everything they make, and that only the permitting fee could be designated to the Recreation Department.
“The sales tax is already dedicated to specific departments,” he said.
Aside from the economic impact of fireworks, many council members were worried about the problems legalizing them could cause.
Councilman Terry Authement said that because fireworks are illegal now, the noise they make isn’t as bad as it could be.
“If you legalize it, it’s going to be very annoying for some people,” he said.
Authement also brought up a house fire two years ago that he said was caused when the pyrotechnics set a grill on fire and burned down an entire house. Because of dangers like that, he said the fire departments should be involved in any discussion that involves lifting a ban on fireworks.
Maj. Sam Zinna, representing the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office, said that the office does get a lot of noise complaints, but that sometimes officers are too busy with more serious matters to enforce the fireworks ban – especially on New Year’s Eve.
Zinna said that 90 to 95 percent of the complaints the Sheriff’s Office receives also come from anonymous callers, which means that the officers have to catch someone in the act of shooting fireworks because they have no witnesses to rely on.
Councilman Marcus Lambert said that even though he thinks having vendors on the highways would cause dangerous situations, all the council members need to go out in their districts to see how residents feel about lifting the ban.
“I know a lot of people who pop fireworks,” he said. “I started asking the question and I haven’t gotten a ‘no’ yet.”
Be the first to comment