SEASIDE – The city of Seaside’s voters will decide in November the fate of “safe and sane” fireworks in the city when a ballot question, that was decided upon at Thursday’s city council meeting, is answered.
Three meetings inviting public input were held recently on the issue of fireworks. Six ballot options were considered and City Council voted unanimously to take city staff’s recommendation.
“Seaside safe and sane fireworks ban. Shall ordinance ___, an ordinance of the City Council of the city of Seaside, repealing and replacing chapter 8.32 of the Seaside municipal code to prohibit the sale, purchase, possession, storage and use of all fireworks, including safe and sane fireworks, be adopted? Yes or No,” ballot question reads.
A “yes” vote means the ordinance would be enacted and the city’s existing regulations would be amended to prohibit the possession, sale, storage or use of “safe and sane” fireworks in the city.
A “no” vote means that the ordinance would not be enacted and the sale and use of “safe and sane” fireworks would continue to be allowed in the city.
The cost to the city for the consolidated election which includes candidates running for office within the city, along with any ballot measures, will cost between $145,000 to $150,000, according to Seaside City Clerk Dominique Davis.
There was a question during public comment and discussion among council members if the words “safe and sane” needed to be in the title of the ballot question.
At this time, all fireworks are prohibited in Seaside with the exception of the legal sale around the Fourth of July, for a specified length of time, of “safe and sane” fireworks. Other exceptions are public display, agricultural-wildlife and model rockets.
“The thing is you have to look at it in a fair and balanced manner,” said Seaside Mayor Ian Oglesby. “Which is, if you try to be a little bit too savvy and remove “safe and sane” then people could say they didn’t understand it.”
Oglesby went on to explain why he agrees with City Attorney Sheri Damon’s assessment.
“I agree with the city attorney. We’re on stronger ground as it relates to the elections office.” said Oglesby. “When we clearly say that any ballot measure should clearly state in the title what it does, and the particulars are in the definition. So I think this gets to where, you know, people supported this question be on the ballot … move it toward the ballot … and we’ll see what happens.”
At the Oct. 5 City Council meeting, councilman Alex Miller proposed the council consider a measure relating to fireworks on the November 2024 ballot. At the Oct. 19 meeting, the council agreed an item should be placed on a future agenda to discuss and consider a city-sponsored ballot measure regarding the future use, sale and possession of safe and sane fireworks in the city.
During the earlier meeting in October, Miller said that since he came onto the council “the biggest issue I get is over the fireworks, and I get it all the time.” He said that this is a community issue and that it is time to get “our hands on the pulse and figure out where the community” stands.
As far as the sale and use of safe and sane fireworks, residents have lodged complaints for many years concerning the practice.
The Seaside City Council even adopted an ordinance prohibiting all fireworks in August 2020, but by mid-September, the city received a referendum petition with 2,446 signatures in an attempt to prevent the ordinance from going into effect, which was accomplished within the 30-day time period accorded by law. At the Oct. 15, 2020, city council meeting, a “certificate of sufficiency” was adopted by the governing body, officially suspending the ordinance.
With the council’s approval at Thursday’s meeting, it selected a ballot question and measure regarding the banning of “safe and sane” fireworks and adopted a resolution for the holding of a consolidated general municipal election on Nov. 5.
Based upon public comment, the resolution was modified and staff recommended text language for the ordinance which preserves the flexibility of the city council to make appropriate administrative modifications to the ordinance. The ordinance language as presented removes the citation process from definitions, bans all fireworks, including “safe and sane” fireworks except public display, agricultural-wildlife and model rockets as permitted. The city council has discretion on what to include and when to require an Operation Plan and After-Action reports, and it allows more flexibility for the city to change citations and administration.
Once a ballot measure is submitted to voters to approve or deny, and is approved by the voters with a simple majority, any subsequent changes to the ordinance can only be made by a vote of the people. The target for finalizing the question and measuring language is no later than May 16.
