After receiving complaints from residents about fireworks over the course of 2021, staff from the Town of The Blue Mountains presented a number of options for increased regulation at a public meeting Mar. 7.
The meeting follows a council discussion in Nov. 2021, where council members moved to bring potential options for regulation to the public for input.
Currently, fireworks are regulated through the town’s noise bylaw, but there have been issues with enforcing it.
Fireworks can be across long distances, but the town has had issues locating the source of the fireworks and enforcing bylaw violations, according to a staff report.
“We don't have any independent regulation of fireworks in the town, we can only regulate it through the noise bylaw and the noise that fireworks works caused,” said the town's director of legal services, Will Thomson. “A challenge of regulation in these provisions [is] that we can only enforce something when we can find where it comes from, so in this case we very much rely on an individual complaint basis.”
The options for regulation are as follows:
- That the town maintains the status quo, through which fireworks would continue to be addressed in the noise bylaw.
- That the noise bylaw, which will be reviewed in 2022, be updated to include regulations and enforcement measures specifically for fireworks.
- That the town implements a permit system for fireworks, which could apply to either the sale or use of fireworks, or both.
- Partial prohibition, in which the sale/ignition of fireworks will only be permitted on or around certain dates.
- Outright prohibition, which would ban the use or sale of fireworks in TBM.
Town staff previously recommended that council endorse option four, which would place TBM in line with the surrounding settlements of Collingwood, Clearview Township, and Meaford, all of which limit firework usage to certain dates.
Several residents expressed concern about fireworks use at the meeting, calling for increased regulation due to the negative effects fireworks may have.
“There should be no sales and no residential usage, limited authorized usage for commercial/official events,” wrote Matt Hogan. “I've thought about calling the OPP on many occasions for irresponsible usage. I support strict regulation and/or prohibition.”
Barry Manchester cited harmful impacts on animals as a reason for increased regulations.
“A common interest in the area is the natural resources, including the small-town feel, the bay/escarpment trail systems and access to nature,” he wrote. “We can hear the booms coming from fireworks celebrations and it can be felt in the ground … [with] impact on pets, such as dogs … hopefully a greener method can be considered.”
Perry Logan, executive director at the Canadian National Fireworks Association (CNFA), attended the public meeting and recommended that the town increase educational measures for fireworks vendors and the public, arguing that increased enforcement measures seldom work.
“Reacting to fireworks is no good. It doesn't work. It doesn't work anywhere. Extra bylaw, extra enforcement – there isn't a community that I've worked with that they've seen positive results,” he said.
Logan said that the CNFA has worked with over 70 municipalities in Canada on fireworks regulation, and he recommended that the town look into the free courses offered on the organization’s website.
“There are two specific courses, and the first one teaches vendors the requirements to sell under the explosives act, and outlines local bylaw regulations,” he said. “The second is targeted at employees and focuses on the selling and discharging with an emphasis on the penalties for non-compliance.”
Logan said that a major issue with fireworks regulations is that many people are unaware that they exist, or what restrictions are in place.
“This was actually just reinforced in Toronto last April, when they did their own survey and 67 per cent don't understand all the rules of a bylaw, or don't even realize there's a bylaw that exists,” he said.
The town has yet to make any decisions on additional fireworks regulations.
Town staff are going to prepare a report, with consideration of the public’s comments, to present to council at a committee of the whole meeting at a later date.
