Sec. 101 It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, or to cause or permit to be sold, within the city, any fireworks at retail without first securing a permit to do so from the Fire Chief. A separate permit shall be obtained for each separate or distinct place of business or stand. Any person having a permit who fails to comply with the conditions of the permit as provided for by this section, shall be deemed to be operating without a permit in violation of this section. Application shall be made no earlier than April 1 and no later than April 20 of each calendar year.
Applications for permits shall be submitted on a form which may request information to assist the City in its evaluation of the goals of the revised ordinance including information regarding the amount of proceeds received by each permittee in prior years. Any person(s) submitting an application shall provide proof of employment or volunteer status with the applicant organization satisfactory to the City. The application shall be a public record. Notwithstanding the above, any party which is granted a permit may subcontract for the sale of fireworks.
Sec. 102 No permit shall be issued to any person, firm or corporation that does not satisfy the requirements provided in this Section.
a. The maximum number of permits which may be issued shall be 15 during any one calendar year as follows: A maximum of 3 permits shall be
issued to applicants in each of the 5 categories provided below, to which applicants may apply for only 1 of the categories:
1. Veterans organizations or any auxiliary of such organization chartered by the Congress of the United States, maintaining a charter and meeting place in the city whose membership is composed of members now and/or heretofore serving in the armed forces of the United States.
2. Religious organizations operating within the City which are exempt from federal taxation.
3. Elementary educational institutions operating within the City which are exempt from federal taxation that agree to use the permit proceeds for the benefit of a valid student extracurricular activity.
4. High school educational institutions operating within the City which are exempt from federal taxation that agree to use the permit proceeds for the benefit of a valid student extracurricular activity.
5. Non-profit organizations operating within the City which are exempt from federal taxation whose main purpose is primarily for civic betterment, youth activities, charitable, or religious purposes.
b. For purposes of this section “operating within the city” shall mean that an applicant’s principal and permanent meeting place is within the city limits, the applicant was organized and established within the city limits for a minimum of one year continuously preceding the filing of an application for a permit and the applicant provides a majority of its services and resources to residents of Alhambra.
c. No organization may receive more than one permit for fireworks sales during any one calendar year.
d. The process for awarding the permit shall be by a lottery drawing supervised and open to the public by the City Manager or City Manager’s designee as follows:
At the date of the deadline to submit applications for permits, 5 separate lottery pools will be created with numbers assigned to each applicant which satisfy the requirements of this Section. The first three applicant numbers which are drawn from each category shall receive a permit.
e. No stand shall be within 600 feel of another stand.
f. Each applicant for a permit shall take out and maintain in force, while any such fireworks stand is open, public liability insurance in an amount of not less than $1,000,000 for injury to one person, and not less than $1,000,000 for any one occurrence, and $1,000,000 for damage to property. The city shall be named as “additional insured” on all policies required hereunder. Prior to the issuance of a permit hereunder, each applicant shall furnish the city evidence satisfactory in form to the city that such insurance is in force, and adequate legal assurance that the carrier will give the city at least 30 days prior written notice of the cancellation of the policy, during the effective period of the permit.
g. Applicants for a permit hereunder shall pay a permit fee of $100 for each fireworks stand.
h. With the exception of veterans’ organizations, the fireworks stand must be run by and staffed at all times by members of the organization which submitted the application.
i. It shall be unlawful for any person to sell at retail “dangerous fireworks,” as defined in the California State Fireworks Law.
j. No “safe and sane” fireworks, as defined in the California State Fireworks Law, shall be sold or offered for sale at retail within the city, except from 12:00 noon on June 28 to 12:00 noon on July 6 of each year.
k. No “safe and sane” fireworks shall be sold or offered for sale at retail unless the fuses or other igniting devices are protected by approved protective caps, or each item or group of items is enclosed or sealed in a package bearing the California State Fire Marshal’s Seal of Registration, upon which the wholesaler’s license number appears.
l. The Fire Chief is authorized to promulgate reasonable additional rules and regulations for the operation of fireworks stands, in order to eliminate or reduce to a minimum the risk of fire or injury to persons or damage to property. A copy of any such rules and regulations shall be posted in a prominent place in each fireworks stand. Failure to comply with said rules and regulations shall be grounds for the immediate revocation of any permit granted under this section.
m. Notwithstanding the limit set forth on the number of permits, the City Manager, in his or her discretion, may issue additional permits for the sale of fireworks to qualified applicants such that the total number of permits issued by the lottery process and the City Manager discretionary permits does not exceed 18. Any organization receiving a discretionary permit shall not be entitled to priority in subsequent years, but shall be eligible for subsequent discretionary permits. In all other respects, discretionary permits shall be governed by the provisions of this section.
(Ord. 4647, passed 12-9-13)