Seaside City Council moves forward with a “safe and sane” fireworks ban ballot measure for November

The City of Seaside could soon be cracking down on "safe and sane" fireworks in the city. On Thursday, Seaside City Council decided to move forward with a ballot measure to potentially ban those types of fireworks.

“This is one of the most divided issues we have in the city. There's some I get a lot of emails and phone calls, both for and against the sale of safe and sane fireworks in Seaside," Seaside City Council Member Alex Miller said.

That measure now heads to the November ballot for Seaside voters to make the final decision. It’s also not the first time the city has banned these types of fireworks. It was initially banned in Seaside back in 2020, but was overturned by a referendum with 2,400 signatures.

There's now renewed calls from people in Seaside to bring back a ban to the city.

“We started this process back in October of last year with the request for council to consider a question to be placed on the ballot regarding the banning of safe and sane fireworks in the city," Seaside City Clerk Dominique Davis said

The city has also previously struggled to combat illegal fireworks. A 2022-2023 Monterey County Civil Grand Jury report found the city’s efforts to reduce illegal fireworks have had minimal effect. Much of the discussion Thursday night surrounded the specific working of the resolution.

“My feeling is that the word safe and sane should not be there. It's all fireworks. They're all fireworks. So what we're looking at is do the citizens of Seaside, want fireworks," one person said during public comment.

Ultimately, the final resolution selected includes:

"Shall Ordinance _, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Seaside, repealing and replacing Chapter 8.32 of the Seaside Municipal Code to prohibit the sale, purchase, possession, storage and use of all fireworks, including safe and sane fireworks, be adopted?"

Council member Alex Miller went on to say, this is something that would impact organizations who sell safe and sane fireworks around the Fourth of July. He said the city has been working with those groups in putting together this resolution.

Currently safe and sane fireworks are only allowed to be sold in seaside between June 28 and July 6