Gravenhurst council will have town staff prepare a report on their ability to crack down on fireworks.
“I think all of you have been aware of issues where people have complained about fireworks going off at all times of day, different times of year, and it’s becoming very frequent,” Councillor Terry Pilger, who put the motion forward, said.
The motion directs staff to report back on the town’s “current framework for nuisance controls such as noise and fire complaints and information regarding the regulation and control of the sale and discharge of fireworks.”
“This would certainly be a new initiative,” Scott Lucas, the town’s Chief Administrative Officer said.
He pointed out that this would only instruct staff to report back with their findings. Council would make a decision on the next steps after that, but he was unsure if that will happen before October’s municipal election. Lucas recommended that community outreach be done before a decision is made. “It often sparks extensive opinion and it’s always our suggestion that we go through an exercise to make sure we have representative data for decision making,” Lucas added.
“This is the starting point,” Lucas said.
A date for when the report will be done wasn’t provided, but Lucas believed it will be in front of council before the election.