WESTBROOK – It’s official: You can buy and sell fireworks in Westbrook, provided you have a permit.

The City Council approved an ordinance permitting sale of consumer fireworks in Westbrook at its meeting Monday night, making Westbrook one of only two communities in Cumberland County that hasn’t outright banned them.

The issue emerged after the state voted earlier this year to allow sale and use of fireworks to be legal for the first time, starting on Jan. 1, 2012.

But local lawmakers are free to enact their own bans, which prompted community leaders to rush to make up their minds on the subject. In Westbrook, councilors passed the ordinance, but not without raising concerns about safety and a bumper-crop of fireworks dealers coming to the city.

“My concern is (that) we don’t have (a) ‘Firework Alley,’” said City Council President Brendan Rielly.

City Administrator Jerre Bryant said the council could stem a rush of fireworks dealers into the city by setting a limit to the number of dealer permits to issue, or by setting a dispersion rule, which would limit the number of dealers in a specific area, or both.

“In both cases, we would need to develop the rationale to support that,” Bryant told the council.

In other words, Bryant said, the council runs the risk of the ordinance being challenged in court if it simply sets restrictions without a supporting argument as to why.

But the council, Bryant said, is free to address that at a future meeting, after the ordinance is passed. Councilor John O’Hara, who has described himself as a lover of fireworks, said even without a restriction, the city would not suddenly become inundated with dealers. The laws of supply and demand, O’Hara said, would limit the dealerships enough.

“If there’s not a market for that product, then businesses won’t sell that product,” he said.

Not all the councilors were happy with seeing fireworks come to Westbrook. Councilor Paul Emery has consistently argued for a ban, saying they are too dangerous. He cast the lone dissenting vote to pass the ordinance on Monday.

“It’s not just kids who screw themselves up,” he said. “It’s adults, too.”

Emery noted that Scarborough officials initially decided not to ban them, then changed their minds and proposed a ban. The ban was defeated by a narrow margin by that town’s council, but Emery still said Scarborough does not appear to be of one mind on the subject.

“It sounds like they have good sense,” he said of the officials who have had second thoughts on permitting fireworks sale and use.

Councilor Victor Chau recused himself once again from discussion and voting on the subject. A real estate broker, Chau said a potential client has expressed interest in starting a fireworks business in the city. Chau said he recused himself to prevent the appearance of a conflict of interest, and has done so on every discussion and vote on the subject prior to Monday night’s meeting.

In addition to enacting the ordinance, the council also set by unanimous vote a fee of $1,250 for permits, both new and renewal.

In other business, the city voted in first reading to permit additional money to be spent on the Walker Memorial Library, to assist with the removal of toxic mold inside the 19th-century building. The library is in the middle of a muiltimillion-dollar facelift, including repairing sections of the roof, which has been leaking for decades.

The invading water has caused significant mold damage, which the city initially thought it could remove with $26,000 in money from the 2010 capital improvement bond, but Bryant told the council on Monday night that there is more work to do.

“We had discovered more mold than we initially anticipated,” he said.

The council is considering authorizing an additional $8,256 in bond money for the work. Despite the unanticipated increase, both Bryant and City Engineer Eric Dudley said the entire project, including the mold removal, has been under budget, and still is not exceeding limits, even with the additional work.

Bryant said spending the extra money would be well worth it in the long run.

“We want to do this right, we want to do this complete, (and) we want to do this once,” Bryant told the council.

The council also passed in first reading a measure to accept a donation of 25 acres of land from Zyacorp. The company owns the Cinemagic movie theater on County Road, and the donated land is behind the theater. Bryant said this week that the land is not slated for development, but may be used for walking trails and other natural attractions.