The North Royalton City Council voted to join surrounding cities, such as Strongsville and Broadview Heights, in the ban of fireworks. The North Royalton City Council has been discussing whether to continue to ban the setting off of fireworks in the city, yield to the recent state law adoption, legalizing fireworks on certain days, or create a hybrid law, that would allow it only on certain days.
On October 27, 2021 the Ohio General Assembly passed and on November 6, 2021, Governor Mike Define signed House Bill 172, legalizing the use of consumer fireworks. Before that time, it was legal to purchase fireworks, but setting them off in Ohio was prohibited. The Ohio law would commence on July 1, 2022, with various holidays that could total up to sixteen days that those fireworks would be allowable.
The North Royalton City Council ordinance 22-61 was introduced at the April 5 Council meeting that opts out of the state’s provisions. Several rounds of discussion took place before that in the Council Safety Committee meeting, and after its introduction. Council discussed the pros and cons of the potential legislation, citing noise complaints that come with loud fireworks and the impact on some people and pets, as well as enforcement issues. They also discussed the potential danger of fireworks exploding in the more densely populated areas of the city, that could cause injury and property damage.
At the May 4 City Council meeting, Council voted five to two on the measure, with Ward 5 Council Rep Dawn Carbone-McDonald and Ward 6 Councilman Mike Wos casting the dissenting votes on the measure. Wos explained that “I simply believe that a ban will be very difficult to enforce, challenging for our safety forces to manage, and I don’t think it makes sense to continue with a dead letter law. The state government basically let the genie out of the bottle and left municipalities in Ohio with a solution looking for a problem to solve. Citizens are going to feel emboldened to use fireworks because Ohio says it’s okay. NR residents already use them and being in Ward 6 in a more rural setting and on or near the county border, there is really no way to avoid it. July 4th was very loud last year and it was illegal so obviously the restrictions we had in place weren’t really working. I also believe if people are being obnoxious, ban or no ban, it violates existing disturbing the peace laws that police could leverage (although, again, I think enforcement will be a real challenge). Either way, the outcome is going to be the same and people will continue to use them.”
Carbone-McDonald said she listened to her residents. “They made overwhelmingly clear in a fireworks survey I did of my ward that they want the new state law to take effect with the safety regulations our state lawmakers put in place for fireworks for certain holidays. Looking at existing city ordinances, if anyone were to break the law police could still cite them for other things such as noise or disorderly conduct. The other factor to consider is enforce ability. Often, under our current ordinance, it is up to the responding officer’s discretion to even issue a citation or not. Compared to other types of crimes that are committed in this city, especially on holidays, OVIs are a much larger issue that our officers should focus on and so should city council to save lives.”
“I think the system in place worked well and I didn’t see any reason to create confusion,” stated Council President, Paul Marnecheck. “When I have a fire chief and a police chief that are uncomfortable with these proposed rules, that gives me pause. I think, from personal experience – I know of an individual who lost her life due to an errant firework, so that’s the framework I brought to the topic.”
“Overall, I think it’s the right way to go,” said Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz. “Too many areas in the city where it could become troublesome. I think there’s always a lot of safety concerns with fireworks and to have that so many times a year is not the prudent way to go.”
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer