Staff with the City of London are ready to share plans to amend the fireworks bylaw roughly seven months after a lengthy public meeting about whether to even allow them ended with councillors requesting a bylaw update.
At the time, a city committee was hearing from the public on whether to continue to allow backyard fireworks with some modifications to the dates they are allowed and to regulations around sale or to ban backyard fireworks entirely.
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The draft bylaw, headed to the Community and Protective Services Committee on Monday, would allow people to set off backyard fireworks on Victoria Day and Canada Day as currently permitted but would also allow them on Diwali and Lunar New Year.
Fireworks would be allowed between dusk and 11 p.m. on those days, which is consistent with the current bylaw. As Diwali and Lunar New Year fall on different dates annually, the report states that the licence manager would publish which date it is annually on the city’s website.
While the current bylaw only regulates the sale of consumer fireworks sold on a temporary basis and from a location other than a building (often referred to as pop-up sites), the draft update would see any and all retailers of consumer fireworks require a licence from the city.
The draft bylaw would also see a set annual fee of $800 for a licence and the potential for “Administrative Monetary Penalties” for non-compliance with the bylaw.
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