The Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Muscatine will conduct a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday (May 25) in the City Council chambers. The public is invited to attend and provide input as the Commission develops a recommendation on where in Muscatine it will be permitted for fireworks to be sold.
Iowa Gov. Terry E. Branstad recently signed legislation that legalized the sale and use of consumer fireworks. Consumer fireworks include items such as firecrackers, bottle rockets, roman candles, sky rockets, aerial shell kits, reloadable tubes, multiple tube devices, mine and shell devices, etc.
While the new state law provides some details for the sale and use of consumer fireworks, many aspects were left to local jurisdictions.
“The City of Muscatine Zoning Ordinance, as currently written, does not distinguish between consumer fireworks and other types of explosives,” Andrew Fangman, city planner, said. “Therefore, until the zoning ordinance is amended, the sale of fireworks is limited to the General Industry (M-2) District, and then only with an approved conditional use permit.”
The state law allows the sale or fireworks starting on June 1 which necessitates changes to City Code at the June 1 meeting of the Muscatine City Council. The Planning and Zoning Commission will make a recommendation on where and how the sale of fireworks should be allowed within the City of Muscatine prior to the Council meeting.
Three questions will be considered by the Planning and Zoning Commission: (1) should the City of Muscatine allow for the sale of fireworks to occur in areas beyond those zoned for general industrial use; (2) should there be a restriction on how close a temporary structure selling fireworks can be to an existing residential structure; and, (3) should a conditional use permit be required for the sale of consumer fireworks.
Local jurisdictions must permit the sale of consumer fireworks between June 1 and July 8 when sold from a permanent building and between June 13 and July 8 when sold from a temporary structure such as a tent. Local jurisdictions retain the right to zone where the sale of consumer fireworks can occur the same as they have the right to zone for any other commercial activity.
The new state law also covers the sale and use of consumer fireworks from December 10 and January 3 in permanent structures.
M2 Zone Map