Though the City of Wayland is considering a local fireworks ordinance, the Leighton Township Board Thursday evening decided against moving forward with such a move.
Township Trustee John Hooker said, “I don’t remember it being much of an issue in the past.”
Supervisor Steve Deer said he has field only a couple of fireworks complaints since the new state law permitted them to be launched by residents.
The State Legislature last winter passed a new state law that permits residential fireworks only on 12 days per year, down from 30 in the previous law, but local municipalities must adopt a local ordinance in order to restrict them to the same days as statewide guidelines.
When told Wayland City Manager Josh Eggleston is drawing up a proposed local ordinance, Hooker pointed out that the city has more police officers while Leighton has just two contracted deputies to enforce local rules.
In other business Thursday evening, the board:
• Agreed to establish an industrial facilities tax district for Classic Transportation, 4729 Division, which will make the business eligible in the future for tax abatements. Classic Transportation& Warehousing is a full service customs bonded warehouse, distribution, and third party logistics.
• Approved a request to rezone a parcel at 4609 Division from agricultural to commercial to accommodate erection of a building in the back of the property.
• Was told by Fire Chief Matt Weston that the Leighton Department now has 24 members, but the ideal roster would include 30.
“It’s not how big a roster you have, but who shows up,” Weston commented.
• Noted the deadline for turning in the master plan survey is the end of this month. The survey is available for viewing on the township’s web site, it was a the subject of a public forum earlier this year and it was discussed in the township newsletter.
“There’s a lot of stuff to go through,” said Hooker, “and it (process of updating the master plan) is very time consuming.”
