GAINESVILLE—City leaders in Gainesville are considering an ordinance that would regulate where "consumer fireworks" can be sold in the city.
The ordinance would clarify definitions that the state law (HB 110) does not define: consumer fireworks, fireworks and consumer fireworks retail facility.
Fireworks retail facilities would be limited to light industrial zoning areas, and according to state law, the city is not allowed to restrict the "quiet hours" for the fireworks being shot off. Currently they are not allowed between midnight and 10:00 a.m., except on holidays like the Fourth of July, when the deadline is extended to 2:00 a.m.
"The (state) law is very well-written," said Matt Tate, City Planning Manager.
City leaders are hoping a change will come during the next General Assembly session.
"They basically took all the power from the cities and counties to regulate it," said Mayor Danny Dunagan.
In layman's terms, "consumer fireworks" are the bigger fireworks that were once outlawed in the state. They are sometimes referred to as "aerial fireworks."
The term "fireworks" will cover the smaller fireworks that were already available in grocery stores and other retail outlets, and a "fireworks retail facility" is defined as a business that does at least 50% of its sales in fireworks. Theoretically, a store could skirt the zoning issue by using 49% of its retail space for the larger fireworks, and selling other merchandise like t-shirts and baseball caps in the other 51%.
As far as the zoning goes, the proposed ordinance says "(this) does not prevent the sale of Consumer Fireworks and Fireworks within the commercial retail buildings such as Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc., which sell other mercantile items."
Also at issue with the council was where these fireworks could be detonated; as it stands now, neither the city nor the county has any regulations in place, though the county is considering it.
"You can shoot them right there in the middle of a football game," said Dunagan, citing his worry of people shooting them off in crowds.
As far as other jurisdictions go, Flowery Branch has approved similar regulations earlier this summer; Clermont also passed an ordinance.
It is also worth noting that Hall County firefighters reported no injuries on July Fourth, though there was a small fire in a trash can from discarded pyrotechnics in Braselton that did not result in any significant damage.
HEARING DATES SET FOR AD VALOREM TAX
The proposed millage rate is rolling back with both the Gainesville City School Board and the Gainesville City Council, the calculated amount is higher than a revenue-neutral rollback. Therefore, city leaders are required to advertise it as a tax increase, even though some residents could see their taxes hold steady, or possibly even drop.
Three public hearings will be held to discuss the matter. The first will be September 15 at 6:00 p.m., the second on October 1 at 9:00 a.m. and the third on October 6 at 5:30 p.m.
All will be held at the Gainesville Justice Center on Queen City Parkway.
Councilman George Wangemann suggested rolling the millage rate all the way back to being revenue-neutral, but council members could not determine where the extra funding would come from.
"The elephant in the room is the jail, and how we're going to pay for it," said Councilman Sam Couvillon.
"I'll just pray really hard that someone comes and takes it off our hands," Wangemann joked.
