(A) Application for a fireworks sales permit shall be made in the following manner:
(1) Application shall be made on such form as shall be prescribed by the City Clerk and shall be filed with the Clerk only from January 1 through January 31 of the year for which the permit is sought.
(2) Only the following organizations, associations or entities shall be eligible for a permit:
(a) Nonprofit organizations and associations using volunteer salespersons and which will use the net proceeds from the sale of fireworks for community betterment purposes within the city; and
(b) Contractors, as such term is defined in § 93.26.
(3) The application shall include all of the following:
(a) A site and floor plan, drawn to scale in a manner acceptable to the City Building Inspector, showing location of the stand or tent, setback from rights-of-way, distance to nearest building or structure, placement of fire extinguishers, all entrances and exits, dock storage areas, pedestrian traffic flow, parking areas and vehicular traffic flow and nature of occupants of nearest buildings;
(b) A sign plan showing the location and size of all planned signage. A temporary sign permit shall be obtained separately, if required;
(c) Detailed information on the tent or stand to be erected on the site;
(d) Detailed information regarding the plan for storage of all fireworks during both open and closed hours;
(e) If the applicant has held a permit in any of the three preceding years, it must file with its application a written statement of the income and expenses from the sale of its fireworks within the city for each of such years, together with a statement of its community betterment expenditures made from the net proceeds from the sale of fireworks in each said year;
(f) The applicant shall state in detail the nature of the community betterment purpose for which the net proceeds from the current year’s sale of fireworks will be utilized if the permit is granted;
(g) A signed statement from the owner of the property upon which the sales will be conducted, granting the applicant permission to so utilize the property;
(h) An application fee of $50 shall be paid to the City Clerk with the application. None of the application fee will be refunded; and
(i) If the applicant is a contractor, the following information shall be supplied: the full name, address, phone number and e-mail address of the contractor; and a copy of the signed contract with the not-for-profit corporation or organization.
(B) After the application filing period, the City Clerk shall review the applications and submit recommended point tallies on the same to the City Council. The City Building Inspector shall review the applications and, if necessary, consult with other city departments and forward general recommendations on the applications to the City Clerk and to the City Council regarding issues relevant to the applications. Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria point system.
(1) Each year all applications will start out with a total of 20 points.
(2) Applications shall be automatically disqualified if they are received after January 31 or if the applicant is a prior-year permit holder that has displayed and/or sold or attempted to sell illegal fireworks or has otherwise violated the law regarding the operation of its fireworks stand.
(3) Applications that are not disqualified will be reviewed by the City Clerk and will lose points according to the following schedule:
Infraction | Point Deduction
|
Infraction | Point Deduction
|
Concerns with proposed location based on recommendation from city departments | 5 |
Lack of sufficient detail or inadequacy regarding previous years income and expenditures | 5 |
Lack of sufficient detail or inadequacy regarding proposed community betterment expenditures | 5 |
Missing information regarding the fireworks sales application | 2 |
Missing information regarding the sign plan | 2 |
Missing information regarding the site plan | 2 |
Missing information regarding the storage of fireworks | 2 |
Missing information regarding the tent or stand to be used | 2 |
(C) In the event of a tie or ties after ranking, first preference shall be given to those eligible applicants that identify community betterment acquisitions or services programs which will benefit the city as a whole. Those that benefit only particular areas or neighborhoods of the city shall have second preference. If all other application requirements are met, special consideration will be given to applicants agreeing to relocate and operate a fireworks stand.
(D) After the application filing period and after the City Clerk’s submission of recommendations, the City Council shall review all applications and by resolution either approve, approve with conditions or deny each such application.
(E) Prior to issuance of the permit, the applicant shall pay to the city a permit fee of $250 and shall supply to the City Clerk a copy of a certificate of insurance issued by an insurance company in good standing, authorized to do business in the state, providing the applicant with combined liability coverage for bodily, injury and property damage in a minimum amount of $300,000 per occurrence and $1,000,000 in aggregate coverage and naming the city as an additional insured.
(F) The permit may be obtained at the office of the City Clerk only after an inspection of the fireworks stand or place of sale by the City Building Inspector to determine if such stand or place of sale conforms to all city laws, building codes, electrical codes, fire safety codes and land use regulations. The applicant shall request the city to make such inspection not later than ten days prior to the opening day of the particular period of the fireworks season, and such inspection shall be made by the city within a reasonable time after the request
(G) Permits will be valid only for the period specified in this subchapter for the particular fireworks sales season and will automatically terminate on the specified ending date. A permit shall allow sales at only one location in the city. Permit holders shall not have any property right to or expectation of receiving a permit or operating a fireworks stand in the city in any future year or period.
(H) The City Council may revoke a permit if it determines that the permit holder has violated this code or any of the terms or conditions of the permit. Such revocation shall be effective immediately.
(Prior Code, § 7-304) (Ord. 617, passed 2-8-2011; Ord. 620, passed 4-12-2011)
Statutory reference:
Similar provisions, see Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 28-1237, 28-1239.01, 28-1243 and 28-1249