STANDISH – A year after hearing complaints from residents who can’t get a good night’s sleep due to the sound of fireworks, the Standish Town Council has unanimously approved a first reading of a partial ban of the items.

?The proposal would limit use of fireworks to Independence Day, New Year’s, and, as local officials say, those unfortunately rare times when New England-based professional sports teams such as the Patriots, Celtics or Bruins win a championship.

The ordinance, discussed at a Feb. 12 meeting, still has two more rounds of approvals before it becomes law, which could take place in April, just before the busy summer tourist season. The council next takes up the proposal at its March 12 meeting, when public comment is welcome.

Councilors say they have been bombarded with complaints from residents seeking the town’s help in silencing the noise from nightly summertime fireworks displays.

Councilor Phil Pomerleau, who last year advocated that the town wait to see how residents behaved with the new fireworks law before instituting a local ordinance, said the experiment has failed. People, he said, especially weekend visitors, abuse the new law, which became effective Jan. 1, 2012, and was championed by Gov. Paul LePage and passed by the Maine Legislature in 2011.

“I’ve gotten numerous complaints up around Long Beach, people firing fireworks,” Pomerleau said. “A lot of out-of-staters come up and shoot off fireworks on the weekends, shooting them into the lake, into people’s boats, different scenarios like that.”

It isn’t just out-of-staters taking advantage of their newfound right to shoot fireworks. It’s Standish residents, as well, Pomerleau added.

“We had a neighbor dispute and the man next door, knowing his neighbor had to get up at 4 in the morning to go to work, around 10:30 every night he’d light off the fireworks. So, bad apples ruin it for everybody else,” he said.

The new ordinance was drafted by Town Manager Gordon Billington, who investigated similar bans in municipalities in Maine and New Hampshire. Standish’s ban differs from many other Maine towns’ ban, since it would allow fireworks when sports teams win a championship. Billington said the exception came from Freedom, N.H.

“I thought, what a clever idea,” Billington said. “When the Patriots go the Super Bowl, you’re damn right. Or if the Sox ever get to the World Series again.”

While championship fireworks celebrations may be few and far between, the proposal also calls for allowing fireworks on Independence Day, from 9 a.m.-12:30 a.m. the following day if July 4 falls on a Friday or Saturday. The town would allow fireworks from 9 a.m.-10 p.m. if July 4 occurs on a Sunday through Thursday.

The ordinance would also allow fireworks on July 3 and July 5, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at 12:30 a.m. the following day, when July 3 and July 5 fall on a Friday or Saturday, and ending at 10 p.m. on other days.

Around New Year’s, the ordinance would allow fireworks Dec. 31 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. the following day. On Jan. 1, fireworks would be allowed from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

When a team wins a national championship, fireworks would be allowed on that day up until 12:30 a.m. the following day. Revelers would be able to explode fireworks again from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. the following day.

The town would not allow the use of fireworks on days when the town is not issuing burn permits due to dry conditions.

The proposal would also impose financial penalties for those who break the law. The fine would be $200 plus court costs for a first offense and $400 plus court costs for any subsequent offense.

Up in the air

While the first reading of the proposal received unanimous approval by the Town Council last week, public comment during the discussion may impact the proposal as written. Resident Jeff Cutler requested during public comment that the council allow for exceptions should Standish residents want to shoot fireworks during family celebrations such as graduations, birthday parties or wedding receptions.

Councilor Mike Blanck, who is chairman of the three-member ordinance committee that helped to draft the ordinance, said the council would likely discuss an amendment based on Cutler’s input.

“He brought up some valid points, so the ordinance committee will revisit this and maybe make another change,” Blanck said.

Blanck and Pomerleau said the exception could complicate the proposal. Blanck said the approval process for family celebrations would need to be overseen likely by the town’s fire chief, who also issues burn permits. Blanck said the celebration exception could be easily abused.

“You can always find someone having a birthday,” he said.

Pomerleau said he sees similar issues with the exceptions. He said he foresees a “tremendous amount of people lying to get that permit for the weekend,” and that the fire chief would likely spend hours weekly issuing the permits, especially in the summer.

“I listened to what [Cutler] said, but the problem I have is who would be in charge of issuing permits? Our fire chief is strapped to the limit right now, we’re only open four days a week, Monday through Thursday, and he’s supposed to investigate, and be the decision maker? So I just see that tying up our fire chief,” Pomerleau said.

Even if Standish imposes a ban, local officials said it would only dampen the noise since the towns of Windham, Raymond and Sebago – Standish’s neighbors on Sebago Lake – have not imposed local fireworks bans.

“We still think there are going to be problems because other towns on Sebago Lake don’t have anything in place,” Blanck said. “So Standish people are still going to be bothered by people shooting fireworks off.”