Launching illegal fireworks in Grover Beach is so taxing on residents’ wallets that the city is considering enforcement restructure.
Last year, the City Council adopted a “social host ordinance” that fines property owners and tenants for lighting unpermitted fireworks at their properties. The city can cite them $1,000 for each violation, each illegal firework set off, in possession, or sold. Additional fines are tacked on “each and every day a violation exists,” which includes nonpayment.
Fines have racked up to the point where people are finding it hard to pay them off, with a single citation resulting in a total charge of $30,000.
Assistant City Manager Kristin Eriksson told the City Council at its April 13 meeting that three people together still owe $128,000 in unpaid fines.
“That is only up to December, when we stopped accumulating daily fines, and that’s because we weren’t sure if this was really in line with your council’s expectations and intentions upon adopting this ordinance,” she said. “So, we paused notifications to those who have outstanding fines still to get your direction this evening.”
In 2025, the city issued 12 citations stemming from illegal fireworks. Three are fully paid, five citations have been partially paid or are on payments plans, and the recipients of three citations haven’t responded. One was dismissed on appeal.
To date, the city has collected almost $7,500 in fines, and 65 percent of that sum went to the state Fire Marshall. Eriksson told New Times that the remaining $2,620 would stay in the general fund for Grover Beach Police Department enforcement operations.
“Only unpaid amounts would go to collections,” she said. “The total amount collected may be adjusted after the updated ordinance is effective and changes to the amounts due are retroactively applied.”
Staff also wanted City Council to look at the way the city pursues unpaid fines: putting liens on properties.
Further, the review process, which is generally meant for code enforcement violations, doesn’t work for fireworks citations because the Community Development Department reviews them first.
“Frankly, they’re not in the best position to do the review,” Eriksson said at the meeting. “They’re not the ones who hold the evidence. The Police Department does.”
City code also doesn’t allow for fine reductions—they must either be waived entirely or imposed in full.
The City Council agreed to staff’s recommended changes and directed them to be retroactive. The changes will include a tiered structure for violations and fines. Suggested base fines for lighting one to 10 illegal fireworks, 10 to 20 illegal fireworks, and 20 or more illegal fireworks are $1,000, $3,000, and $5,000, respectively.
Other reworks include incorporating late fees, removing mandatory daily fines, and seeking payment through a third-party collections agency instead of placing liens on properties.
The review process will also be revamped so that the Police Department reviews the citation first, which can be appealed to the city manager’s office. Either police or the city manager would have the discretion to reduce fines.
The first reading of the updated ordinance will happen on April 27, followed by a public hearing and second reading on May 11. The new ordinance would be effective 30 days after adoption.
“Upon the effective date of the updated ordinance, the city will reimburse any payments of base fines in excess of the updated tiered fine structure and any payments made on daily, accumulated fines for nonpayment,” Eriksson told New Times. ∆
This article appears in April 16-23, 2026.