HomeMy WebLinkAboutNo 829 Regulating the Sale, Use and Possession of Fireworks within the City of Maplewood
ORDINANCE 829
AN ORDINANCE REGULATING THE SALE, USE AND POSSESSION OF FIREWORKS
WITHIN THE CITY OF MAPLEWOOD.
Section 1.Purpose.
It is the purpose of this ordinance to govern the possession, use, sale, storage, exportation and
display of fireworks in the City of Maplewood.
Section 2.Definitions.
“Fire Chief” is the Chief of the Maplewood Fire Department.
“Display Distributor”means any person, firm or corporation selling special fireworks.
“Distributor”means any person, firm or corporationselling fireworks to wholesalers and retailers
for resale.
“Law Enforcement Officers or Code Enforcement Officers”are individuals authorized to
enforce the laws or ordinances of the City of Maplewood.
“Legal Fireworks”means wire or wood sparklers of not more than 100 grams of mixture per
item, other sparkling items which are nonexplosive and nonaerial and contain 75 grams or less of
chemical mixture per tube or a total of 200 grams or less for multiple tubes, snakes and glow
worms, smoke devices, or trick noisemakers which include paper streamers, party poppers, string
poppers, snappers, and drop pops, each consisting of not more than twenty-five hundreths grains
of explosive mixture.
“Manufacturer”means any person, firm, corporation or partnership engaged in the manufacture
of fireworks.
“Retailer”means any person, firm, corporation or partnership purchasing fireworks for resale to
consumers.
Section 3.Legal Fireworks
Subd. 1.Legal fireworks for sale to the general public as that term is used in the
Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance shall be understood to mean fireworks legal for sale and use in
Minnesota under the provisions of Minnesota Statute Section 624.20.
Subd. 2.No individual, firm, partnership, corporation or association shall possess for retail
sale in the City of Maplewood, sell or offer for sale at retail or use or possess any fireworks other
than legal fireworks.
Section 4.Permit Required
Subd. 1.No person may sell, hold for sale, import, distribute or offer for sale, as speciality
retailer, or retailer any fireworks in the City of Maplewood unless such person has first obtained
the appropriate permit.
Subd. 2.The Fire Chief, Law Enforcement Officer and Code Enforcement Officer shall
enforce the Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance. All permit applications shall be submitted to the
office of the City Clerk. All retailers shall be required to purchase a retail fireworks permit for
each retail location.
Subd. 3.Application. The application for a permit under the Maplewood Fireworks
Ordinance shall contain the following information: name, address, and telephone number of the
applicant, the address of the location where the legal fireworks will be sold, the type of legal
fireworks to be sold, the estimate of quantity of legal fireworksand a letter from the property
owner granting permission to the applicant for use of said property.
Subd. 4.An applicant for a permit under the Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance shall pay to
the City of Maplewood the following fees, which shall not be refundable, per location;
1.Retailer Permit.$100.00
Subd. 5.Following an inspection of the location where the legal fireworks are to be sold, the
City Council shall issue a retailer permit if the conditions for permit approval are satisfied and the
location of the property is zoned either commercial or industrial.
Subd. 6.No retail permit shall be issued for any period of time in excess of one year, and
any permit may be revoked by the City Council when it shall appear that the permittee has
violated any of the provisions of this Ordinance or has engaged in activities contradictory to the
best interest of the citizens of the City. The permit issued shall be non-transferable either to
different persons or location.
Section 5.Retail Sales or Storage of Fireworks: Regulated Activities
Subd. 1.The sale of legal fireworks only shall occur wholly within permanent buildings and
permanent structures, as defined by the National Building Code, which shall have been deemed
safe and proper by the appropriate code official(s). It shall be unlawful to sell fireworks within
temporary facilities, motor vehicles, tents or air-supported structures. No fireworks may be sold
at retail without a retail permit. The permit shall posted be at each location where theretail sale
takes place and a list of all legal fireworks sold at the location shall be available upon request.
Subd. 2.Buildings and permanent structures with approved sprinkler systems are limited to
the sale and storage of a total of one hundred (100) pounds net weight or four hundred (400)
pounds gross weight of legal fireworks. Buildings and permanent structures without approved
automatic sprinkler systems are limited to the sale and storage of a total of fifty (50) pounds net
weight or two hundred (200) pounds gross weight of legal fireworks.
Subd. 3.At all places where fireworks are stored, sold or displayed, the works “NO
SMOKING” shall be posted in letters at least four inches in height. Smoking and/or any discharge
of any object that couldcause a spark or open flame is prohibited within one-hundred (100) feet
of any fireworks stock.
Subd. 4.No fireworks shall be stored, kept, sold or discharged within fifty feet of any
gasoline pump or gasoline bulk station or any building in which gasoline or volatile liquids are sold
in quantities in excess of one gallon, except in stores where cleaners, paints and oils are handled
in sealed containers only.
Subd. 5.All fireworks permittees shall keep and maintain upon the premises a fire
extinguisherbearing an Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. rated capacity of at least 5 pound ABC
per five hundred square feet of space used for fireworks sales or storage.
Subd. 6.A sales clerk who is at least sixteen years of age shall be on duty to serve
consumers at the time of purchase or delivery. Every sales clerk shall distribute with each sale a
one page information sheet from the City containing firework safety guidelines. It shall be the
responsibility and expense of the permittee to obtain a copy of the information sheet from the City
and make the appropriate number of copies for distribution. All fireworks sold and shipped to
consumers within the City shall be sold and shipped only by an individual firm, partnership or
corporation holding the proper permit.
Subd. 7.Any fireworks devices that are readily accessible to handling by consumers or
purchasers in a retail sales location shall have their exposed fuses protected in a manner to
protect against accidental ignition of an item by a spark, cigarette ashor other ignition source. If
the fuse is a thread-wrapped safety fuse which has been coated with a nonflammable coating,
only the outside end of the safety fuse shall be covered. If the fuse is not a safety fuse, then the
entire fuse shall be covered.
Section 6.Exportation of Fireworks from the City of Maplewood
Subd. 1Nothing in the Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance shall prohibit wholesalers,
distributors, importers, speciality retailers, or manufacturers from storing, selling, shipping or
otherwise transporting fireworks by the United States Department of Transportation to any person
or entity outside the City.
Section 7.Display and Discharge of Fireworks
Subd. 1.Nothing in the Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance shall prohibit the public display of
fireworks except that any individual, association, partnership, corporation, or organization shall
secure a written permit from the office of the Fire Chief and the fireworks shall be purchased from
a distributor or display distributor licensed by the State Fire Marshal and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms at the United States Department of the Treasury.
Subd. 2.All use, display, or discharge of legal fireworks is strictly prohibited in the area on,
below, above, within, or in close proximity to:
1.recreational areas, roadways, streets, highways, bicycle lanes, pedestrian paths,
sidewalks, rights of way, lakes, rivers, waterways and all other property owned or leased
by the City of Maplewood, County of Ramsey, State of Minnesota and located in whole or
in part within the City limits;
2.private property within the City limits that has conspicuously posted written signs or
notices that no fireworks discharge is allowed;
3.within one hundred fifty (150) feet of any consumer fireworks retail sales facility or storage
area;
4.within, into or at a motor vehicle or from a motor vehicle;
5.at or near any persons or animals;
6.any property, area or structure or material that by its physical condition or the physical
conditions in which it is set would constitute a fire or personal safety hazard; and
7.upon order of the Fire Chief in the event of dry conditions within the City limits.
Section 8.Penalty: Criminal
Subd. 1.Any individual, firm, partnership or corporation that violates any provision of the
Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be
punished by a sentence of not more than ninety (90) days or a fine not more than one thousand
(1,000) dollars, or both, may be imposed.
Section 9.Penalty: Civil
Subd. 1.If an individual, firm, corporation or partnership is found guilty of violating any of
the provisions of the Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance, that entity’s permit shall be revoked or
suspended by the City Council.
Subd. 2.No individual, firm, corporation or partnership shall possess any fireworks for sale
within the City, other than those authorized in the Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance. The Fire
Chief, Law Enforcement Officer, Code Enforcement Officer, Deputies or designees may at
reasonable hours enter and inspect the permittee’s premises, building or permanent structure to
determine compliance with the Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance. If any retailer has in its
possession any fireworks in violation of this Ordinance, his or her permit shall be revoked and all
such fireworks seized, and the fireworks in violation of the Ordinance shall be kept to be used as
evidence. If any person has in his or her possession any fireworks in violation of the Ordinance,
a warrant may be issued for the seizure of fireworks and the fireworks shall be safely kept to be
used as evidence. Upon conviction of the offender, the fireworks shall be destroyed, but if the
offender is discharged, the legal fireworks shall be returned to the person in whose possession
they were found; provided, however, that nothing in the Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance applies
to the transportation of fireworks by regulated carriers.
Subd. 3.Nothing in the Maplewood Fireworks Ordinance shall apply to or prohibit any
employees of theDepartment of Natural Resources or the United States Fish and Wildlife
Services from possessing fireworks for control of game birds and animals or to prohibit any Law
Enforcement Officer from possessing fireworks in the performance of his or her duties orto
prohibit any organization therein from sponsoring and conducting with connection with any public
celebration, an officially supervised and controlled fireworks display.
Section 10.Severability
Should any section, subdivision, clause or other provision of this Ordinance be held to be
invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the
ordinance as a whole, or of any part thereof, other than the part held to be invalid.
Section 12.Effective Date.
This ordinance shall take effect upon its passage and publication.
Passed by the Maplewood City Council on July 22, 2002.