LINCOLNVILLE, Maine — Residents on Election Day decided by just five votes in favor of an ordinance that would put some restrictions on fireworks in this rural community.
The 235-to-230 vote was music to the ears of Whitney Opporsdorff, who lives on Coleman Pond, where many nights last summer were enlivened by the sounds of explosions. She served on the committee asked by the Lincolnville selectmen to draft an ordinance after many people came forward last year to complain about the fireworks noise.
About 28 percent of the community’s 1,772 registered voters weighed in on the fireworks ordinance.
“I’m really excited,” Opporsdorff said Wednesday. “Maybe this summer will be quieter than last year.”
The town ordinance will allow fireworks in the shoreland zone from 7 to 10 p.m. from April 1 to Oct. 31, with individual displays of fireworks allowed to last no more than one hour. However, on July 4 and for the weekend prior to and following the national holiday, fireworks could be used from 9 a.m. until 12:30 a.m. of the following day. The ordinance also will prohibit fireworks on any town-owned property or on any day that’s rated Class 4 or 5 for fire danger.
Infractions will bring penalties of not less than $50 and not more than $500.
But some in the community say that enforcement will be a problem. Lincolnville last year decided to eliminate the community’s own police department, and the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office would need an additional contract to enforce the town ordinance.
“I think a lot of people did not read the ordinance before they voted,” Cathy Hardy, who was elected to be a selectman Tuesday and who has opposed the ordinance, said Wednesday. “I believe the state statute as written is sufficient, and that this adds a local layer that’s unenforceable.”
She said that after last summer’s spurt of noise complaints, the selectmen addressed it by getting the word out to the owners of rental properties that they needed to ask their guests to tone it down. After that, the noise complaints died down, and by the end of August and early September, there were no more problems, according to Hardy.
“I’m of the opinion that if you just continue to provide the education, the ordinance could be a moot point,” she said.