TOPSHAM

The Planning Board is scheduled to meet today for a workshop on fireworks and the sign ordinance.

Consumer fireworks became legal in Maine on Jan. 1. Many Maine municipalities enacted local ordinances to ban or restrict the sale and use of fireworks. After considering a similar measure, the Topsham Board of Selectmen opted to place the question before voters at a town meeting.

Town Planner Rich Roedner said the workshop today will be the Planning Board’s first meeting regarding fireworks. Roedner wrote in an email to The Times Record that he is working with staff to put together a draft ordinance to regulate the sale of consumer fireworks.

Roedner plans to present language related to the sale of consumer fireworks to Topsham voters as an amendment to the town’s zoning ordinance. Roedner expects the board to review the draft language today as part of its workshop, then make a decision on how to proceed.

Roedner said a separate ordinance is being drafted that would regulate the use of consumer fireworks in town. That proposal will go directly to the Board of Selectmen at a future meeting for its consideration as a new ordinance section with the town code.

The board also plans to hold a workshop today on the sign ordinance, as part of its ongoing effort to overhaul the entire ordinance in a holistic approach.

The Planning Board meeting will start at 7 p.m. today at the municipal building, 100 Main St.