Who gets to sell fireworks in Huntington Beach? City wants to make process fairer and easier

Huntington Beach is looking to fine-tune its fireworks ordinance to make the process fairer and more organized for those looking to sell the celebratory items during the Fourth of July.

City Council members during a meeting Tuesday night unanimously approved the first reading of several changes to the ordinance. The changes need to be approved during a second reading at an upcoming meeting before they can go into effect.

Councilman Erik Peterson said the changes are meant to take some of the burden of the extensive lottery process off of the city clerk’s and city manager’s offices and place it on the council members who serve as the council liaison to the Fourth of July Board.

“This probably is going to be a living document,” Councilman Mike Posey said. “There will be some tweaking as we try to refine this.”

One of the changes bars individual club or travel sports teams from applying under the youth sports category. Additionally, adult sports organizations are suggested to be removed from the civic organizations category.

City staff plans to define a civic organization as one whose sole purpose, as opposed to main purpose, is to benefit Huntington Beach residents. To allow smaller groups to enter the lottery, city staff recommended removing the requirement that organizations have at least 20 members who work or live in Huntington Beach.

To determine if one’s organization can turn a profit by selling fireworks, the city is looking to require fireworks wholesalers to report sales profits to the city. The council liaisons to the Fourth of July Board are suggested to make the final decision on which organizations enter the lottery instead of the city manager’s office.

In an effort to allow more people to operate a stand, city staff also suggested removing the requirement of naming those working at the fireworks stand.

One of the biggest changes involves school organizations. Schools can only apply as a whole, as opposed to individual booster clubs. The schools who win the city’s lottery will hold their own lottery among their various student booster clubs and organizations and choose two groups to run the fireworks stands.

In February 2015, the City Council approved an ordinance that set up a lottery process in which 15 local nonprofit civic, youth sports and high school organizations would be selected to sell fireworks at stands around the city from July 1 to 4.

Last year was the first time since 1987 that the sale of state-approved fireworks was permitted under city law. Huntington Beach residents approved Measure T, which legalized the sale and use of fireworks in the city, during the November 2014 election.