Kent City Council passes fireworks ban starting in 2017

Kiss fireworks goodbye in Kent.

The City Council voted 5-0 on Tuesday night to prohibit the sale, possession and discharge of consumer fireworks year-round. The current city code allows fireworks to be discharged from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on July 4 and the sale of legal fireworks from June 28 to July 4. Because the state requires a one-year notice, the ban will not go into effect until 2017.

Kent voters (62 percent) approved a ban in an advisory vote to the council in November. The council received numerous complaints from residents over the last few years about fireworks going off in their neighborhoods before, during and after the Fourth of July. They complained about the noise, litter and potential fire danger.

“I just want to take a moment to thank the council for going through a process that at times was very emotional for all of us,” said Councilman Jim Berrios, who led the drive to ban fireworks. “The fact that we’ve gotten to this point it’s been clear that when we went to the public and we asked for their opinion, we meant it. We got their opinion and we appreciate that opinion.

“I’d like to thank all of those members in the public that were very vocal about this issue. We got the point and we acted accordingly.”

Council members Les Thomas and Dennis Higgins had excused absences and didn’t vote on the ban. Thomas voted against the ban last week when the council’s Public Safety Committee voted 2-1 to recommend that the full council approve the ban.

State law allows fireworks sales and use on certain hours between June 28 and July 5. According to state law, any ordinance adopted by a county or city that is more restrictive than the state shall have an effective date no sooner than one year after its adoption.

Fireworks vendors asked and received that one-year protection from the state, according to Kent Fire Department Regional Fire Authority officials. Vendors told state officials they must order fireworks from China far ahead of July 4 and if cities where they sold fireworks suddenly banned them, they would be left with a lot of extra inventory.

The new ordinance passed by the council will not apply to the city’s Fourth of July Splash fireworks display at Lake Meridian or any other permitted display operated by a state-licensed pyrotechnician. The city fire marshal issues fireworks display permits.

Violators of the ban will have to pay a $250 fine. The punishment for the discharge of fireworks in a reckless manner, a gross misdemeanor, is up to one year in jail and a $5,000 fine. The new ordinance also makes other violations a gross misdemeanor, including conducting a display of fireworks without a properly issued city permit. The council also made it an infraction for property owners who knowingly allow fireworks on their property.

Mayor Suzette Cooke thanked the council for passing the ban, something she has supported for 10 years.

“This was my actually my first proposal to the city council back in 2006,” Cooke said. “Sometimes it takes a long time to get resolution. But it was key with the vote of the public advising the council as to what the residents wanted. I thank the council for respecting that advisory vote towards a ban on fireworks.”