Dorney Park Nightly Fireworks Plan Fizzles

Three times a summer, Jennie McAfee knows she will have to sedate her dog, her windows will shake, her dishes will rattle and parking will be impossible in her neighborhood, but she and her family will get to see a spectacular nighttime show when nearby Dorney Park shoots its fireworks display.

But when the South Whitehall resident read on Dorney Park's website that it planned to have nightly fireworks for eight weeks beginning June 28, she was stunned. 

"I'm thinking, wait a minute, every single night? I read it again and again. I finally called the township and asked, 'Is this for real?,'" McAfee said.

McAfee, the mother of two young children, said she and other neighbors on Hillview Road are concerned about the noise from thunderous fireworks, the disruption and the bumper-to-bumper traffic, as well as the potential danger of fireworks stored at the amusement park.

"It's just not fair to the people who live here. They're in the middle of a residential area. It's not like it's in Disney World," she said.

Although Dorney Park has said it will have nightly fireworks, the township has not yet granted permission, and in fact, rejected issuing a permit on May 1.

At the Board of Commissioners' Wednesday meeting, Joseph Bubba, attorney for Dorney Park, said he would send a hand-delivered appeal Thursday to the zoning hearing board.

Although the zoning board's next meeting is June 26, two days before Dorney Park's anticipated nightly fireworks, Community Manager and Zoning Officer Gerald Harbison said the board might schedule a hearing with overflow agenda items in early June.

On May 1, Harbison rejected Dorney Park's request for a permit to hold nightly fireworks. Harbison wrote that it would be a non-compliant use that involves on-site fireworks storage and "displays that arguably extend beyond the boundaries of park with its emissions of fumes, smoke and noise, potential nuisances."

Harbison acknowledged Dorney Park's longstanding grandfathered rights to hold fireworks around the three summer holidays of Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day are permitted to continue.

Jason McClure, president of Dorney Park, told the commissioners the nightly fireworks would last about five-to-seven minutes and would be smaller fireworks shells than those used during their holiday shows.

"It's a small show," McClure said.

McClure said the nightly fireworks are a way to draw attendance levels in lieu of new rides.

President Tori Morgan asked if Dorney Park had reached out to its neighbors.

"We haven't had any specific outreach," McClure said.