FAIRFIELD — If a newly drafted town law is enacted, fireworks would be legal for just 19 days of the year.

Town Manager Joshua Reny said Thursday that the proposed law is meant to be a compromise between groups with sharply differing views on fireworks use.

Reny said that building consensus on the issue, in the community or on the council, may not be possible.

“One council member has said publicly several times that he will only support a town-wide ban,” Reny said. “Another council member has informed me that he believes this draft language is too restrictive.”

With a second public hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 12, Reny said that the final ordinance could be more lax or more strict.

“I have no prediction on what we’ll end up with,” he said.

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Under the proposal, which would be an amendment to a public safety ordinance, fireworks use would be allowed during Memorial Day and the three days leading up to it, Labor Day and the three days leading up to it, a nine-day stretch around the Fourth of July, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

The proposal was drafted by a group that included Reny, police Chief John Emery and fire Chief Duane Bickford, after a July 11 public hearing.

“I think the goal is to come up with a compromise that satisfies most people,” Reny said. “But we also recognize that it is impossible to satisfy everyone.”

Under the proposed law, violations would result in fines of $150 for a first offense, and amounts ranging up to $500 for repeated offenses.

Fireworks could be sold in town, but not in village or residential zones.

Fireworks became legal in the state Jan. 1, but municipalities can come up with their own restrictions.

Other communities in the area have taken different approaches to the issue.

In Waterville, the use of fireworks was banned on a unanimous vote of the city council.

In Winslow, an ordinance that would restrict fireworks use to weekends and some holidays was tabled on Aug. 14, after councilors agreed there were too many unaddressed questions to move forward.


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