City considers fireworks tent request

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

A request for a fireworks sales permit on a city parking lot stirred discussion at a City Council planning session Monday night.

The council heard a request from Johnathan Reece with TNT Fireworks to rent the city parking near Hy-Vee.

Charles City and the state of Iowa voted in 2017 to allow consumer-grade fireworks sales, although Charles City does not allow their use within city limits.

The Hy-Vee parking lot is kind of a unique situation, said Charles City Administrator Steven Diers. “It’s a parking lot that’s owned by the city,” he said.

Because of the zoning of the parking lot, sales of fireworks would require a special-use permit from the board of adjustment.

“Since we are the property owners we would have to apply for the special use,” Diers said.

The company would have the fireworks tents near the Hy-Vee Garden Center, Reece said.

“We’d look to be opening June 22 for about two weeks,” he said.

Council member Jerry Joerger said he was was concerned about possible safety problems.

“I’m just cautious,” he said.

“We do this all over America,” Reece said, citing his business’s experience with fireworks.

TNT Fireworks has worked with Sheraton, Ames and Webster City in the past.

Council member Michael Hammond asked how secure the tents are from thefts.

Reese told the council there was a plastic barrier outside the tent.

A local non-profit, one of the churches in the community, would run the tent, he said.

“We give them training on how everything should be handled,” Reece said. “Whatever they don’t sell they bring back to a facility in Des Moines.”

There would be no representatives from TNT Fireworks working at the tent, Reece said.

Council member DeLaine Freeseman said he wasn’t comfortable with having the tent downtown without someone from Reese’s company present.

Freeseman said he wanted to hear from Bob Ingram of Sisson and Associates, a regular insurance adviser to the city, about what the city needs regarding insurance.

201 and 203 N. Main St review

The building at 201 and 203 N. Main St. was recently listed as one of the most endangered buildings in Iowa.

“That’s there to bring attention to potential issues with that building,” Diers said. “What it can do is open it up to potential funding opportunities. It isn’t a funding opportunity.”

Diers said the building needs a full structural engineer inspection to know what’s going on.

“To be able to fully visually inspect what needs to be inspected there would have to be holes drilled, to actually be able to physically look inside and see what the structure of that building is doing,” Diers said.

The city has received letters about the building from the Charles City Historical Preservation Commission and most recently the Business Improvement Committee.

Dix has owned the building since at least 1997, according to Floyd County records. The building is valued at $169,730.

“We want to work with the property owner in any way we can,” Diers said.

An inspection could cost the city from $5,000 to $7,500, he said. The initial payment for that work would have to be from the city.

Without the owner’s cooperation there’s no way the city can recoup the cost from the owner, said Charles City Attorney Brad Sloter.

“We got to go ahead and get it inspected,” Joerger said.

The building at 205 N. Main St. was also considered as needing inspection.

“I don’t know what the response is going to be from the property owner,” Diers said.

Charley Western Trail Bridge

The council is considering replacing the bridge with either a road bridge or a trail bridge.

There is currently funding available for recreation trails, said Charles City Engineer John Fallis.

The council expressed interest in moving as quickly as possible.

Charles City Mayor Dean Andrews spoke with the council in the beginning of the meeting about changing meeting days, from voting meetings on Mondays and workshop meetings on Wednesday.

The next council session will be a voting session at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20.