Daniel Prince
Committee votes to present amended ordinance for final reading at next regular council meeting
A second, shorter committee meeting was held right after that one. The Committee on Planning and Development met to discuss the county’s burn ordinance, which has passed two readings but was referred to the committee for review and revision before being brought back to the full council for the final reading.
After the previous meeting, the attorney had made a couple of revisions to the ordinance. The main change dealt with penalties for violating the ordinance, which would start with a $100 fine for the first offense and $200 for the second and subsequent offense. Other revisions cleaned up the language and made the ordinance consistent with what is in Municode. The size of allowable recreational fires was changed from 4 square feet to 9 square feet, as well. Dr. Flood said an additional change was needed, in that the county fire marshal or the fire chief of the district would have jurisdiction, as the county fire marshal may not always be available and the fire chief serves as the fire marshal of the district.
The motion was made to present the revised ordinance to the full council for third and final reading. The motion passed unanimously. The committee was also supposed to discuss an ordinance for fire deployment fees, but Flood said the attorney was having issues with it and needed more time. The ordinance was tabled until a later meeting.