At the Lakewood City Council meeting on September 21, 2020, the Lakewood City Council approved Ordinance 742 amending city codes related to the discharge of fireworks in Lakewood city limits, Lakewood Municipal Code 8.68.
The approved ordinance restricts the dates legal fireworks can be discharged within Lakewood city limits to 11:00 a.m. to 11 p.m. on July 4th. Discharging fireworks remains permissible from 11:00 p.m. December 31st to 1:00 a.m. January 1st.
Notably, as the adopted changes are more restrictive than state law, changes to the city’s firework codes related to July 4th will not be in effect until 2022 pursuant to RCW 70.77.250(4). Fireworks may therefore continue to be discharged 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on July 3rd through July 5th, 2021.
Leading up to this vote, the Lakewood City Council considered fireworks at the following meetings and public hearings:
- February 10, 2020 – Lakewood City Council Study Session – Lakewood Police Chief Mike Zaro provided a Fireworks Update which included firework recommendations from the Public Safety Advisory Committee.
- June 1, 2020 – Lakewood City Council Regular Meeting – A Public Hearing set for this date. Due to COVID-19, the City Council extended the public hearing to July 20, 2020. All comments collected to this point were included in the public hearing record.
- July 20, 2020 – Lakewood City Council Regular Meeting – A Public Hearing set for this date. Due to COVID-19, the City Council extended the public hearing to September 8, 2020. All comments collected to this point were included in the public hearing record.
- September 8, 2020 – Lakewood City Council Regular Meeting – A Public Hearing regarding proposed firework amendments was held on this date. All comments collected from June 1 to September 8 were included in the public hearing record.
In total, the City received 149 public comments related to fireworks in Lakewood.