TOPSHAM — Developers are exploring the possibility of opening a consumer fireworks store on Topsham Fair Mall Road.
Meanwhile, the Board of Selectmen will ask voters in a referendum to decide whether to enact municipal rules guiding the sale and use of fireworks in Topsham. Unless and until the town establishes its own rules related to private use of pyrotechnics, a state law that went into effect Jan. 1 will apply.
Town Planner Rich Roedner said Tuesday that on March 6, the Planning Board approved a 4,000-square-foot retail building at 111 Topsham Fair Mall Road. The developer, Kelley and Kelley Development, has indicated that its representatives have talked to a fireworks retailer about being the tenant.
Kelley and Kelley Development — doing business as Topsham K & K I, LLC — initially gained approval in 2006 for a development that included a 2,900-square-foot restaurant with a drive- through lane on the lot located near Topsham Fair Mall Road and in front of the stores attached to Best Buy.
The Planning Board on March 6 approved an amendment to that development’s site plan, allowing replacement of the 2,900 square-foot building with a 4,000-squarefoot retail building. An application summary letter, dated Feb. 28, states that the occupant of the new building is expected to employ 14 people. The letter, written by project engineer Curtis Y. Neufeld of Sitelines, summarized the modifications and noted construction was anticipated to begin in spring 2012 and be completed by summer 2012.
Municipal rule
On Thursday, after hearing opinions from the public, selectmen voted 4-1 to send four proposed fireworks-related ordinances to a townwide referendum in June, instead of putting them before voters at the May town meeting.
Two proposed ordinances would ban the use and sale of fireworks in town. Two other proposed ordinances would regulate use and sale of fireworks.
A survey of residents didn’t indicate a clear consensus about regulating or prohibiting sales or use of fireworks, so selectmen talked about putting it to the voters at town meeting. Following Thursday’s discussion, they chose to let residents decide the matter via secret ballot in June.
Ordinance language was drafted for the sale of consumer fireworks, limiting the use to certain zones and allowing it only as a conditional use, which comes with additional standards.
Draft ordinance language regulating the use of consumer fireworks refers to state regulations and adds additional restrictions, such as prohibiting fireworks use within 300 feet of any combustible structure or 50 feet of an overhead power line; and states fireworks can only be used on days when burn permits are being issued.
On Thursday, Don Russell, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said, “I definitely think that the town has the right to decide on the ban or the use of fireworks,” and to vote it up or down, emphasizing he was in favor of bringing the decision to voters at town meeting.
Russell further stated that, “I think there’s a big difference between banning the use of fireworks and the impact it has in town,” and the banning of sales of fireworks in town and the impact that has in town.
Russell said he perceives the question of whether to allow consumer fireworks to be sold in town as a zoning issue that would be reviewed by the Planning Board.
“I also think that in the environment we’re in today that the economic development aspect of … having another business come to town is very, very important,” Russell said.
Selectman Andrew Mason questioned the sense of allowing a large fireworks business to open in town, if a large contingent of residents vote not to allow use of fireworks in town. If fireworks are banned, Mason wondered who would come to the store to buy fireworks that could not be used in Topsham.
Russell said he sees it as a decision to be made by the person who wants to open the store, adding people used to drive to New Hampshire to buy fireworks.
Mason countered, “I think people against fireworks will also be against sales of fireworks.”
Russell told Mason, “I think you’re jumping to conclusions.”
Elm Street resident Bill Fitzsimmons told selectmen he’d like to see all four items — the ban on sales of consumer fireworks, the ban on use of consumer fireworks, and the draft provisions regulating each — dealt with at the May town meeting. He told selectmen he would launch a petition drive to place the question before voters if selectmen did not.
The board’s decision later Thursday to schedule a referendum made Fitzsimmons’ concern moot.
Wes Thames, who works for a local developer in town and was previously the town’s public works director, spoke of the struggle to bring development to the Topsham Fair Mall.
“It’s business,” Thames said of the possibility that a fireworks store could open in the Topsham Fair Mall. “ I think we ought to be kind to business, because … there’s people leaving the mall now. … We’ve got to have tax money to replace the tax money that’s leaving.”
Topsham resident and business owner Harold Sandelin urged selectmen Thursday to enact a rule allowing the sale of fireworks in Topsham, thereby allowing the fireworks business to come to town. He also spoke in favor of letting voters decide on the use of fireworks by secret ballot. A general election, he said, would allow people to vote from behind a booth without being intimidated.
After selectmen spent several minutes muddling through some other options on how to proceed, Mason made the motion that the questions concerning the use and sale of fireworks be put to a referendum question on June 12, when the state holds its primary election. The motion, seconded by Ron Riendeau, passed by a 4- 1 vote, with Dave Douglass opposed.
Douglass said after the vote, “ We have just completely muddied the water, tremendously.”
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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