Neighbors worried about proximity of new fireworks stand

City says there isn't much it can do

WINDCREST, Texas – Some of the neighbors of a Northeast Bexar County community say a new fireworks stand is dangerously close and the county isn't working fast enough to stop it. The county says it's out of its hands.

James Larabee has lived in the Brookwood Subdivision for 15 years. He admits the are by his neighborhood just outside of the city of Windcrest isn't as nice as it used to be, but says it doesn't deserve to be a fireworks stand.

Bottom line, he and other neighbors say it's dangerous.

"It's frustrating and just plain illogical," said Larabee.

"I don't think there's anybody in your viewing area, that's going to want us to live 50 yards away from a fireworks stand," said neighbor Robert Perez.

Fireworks are illegal in the surrounding cities, but this community is unannexed county land.

Just down the street the use and sale of fireworks is illegal.

A law went into effect last year allowing fireworks sales closer to city limits than before. The law stops cities from classifying fireworks stands as a “nuisance” and barring them from 5,000 feet of the city.

In what some call an unintended consequence, this now means small pockets of unannexed county land in the heart of suburbia can host the selling and use of fireworks.

For some residents, they say they feel like they've fallen through the cracks, and is a growing problem.

"They're putting them all over the place, we'll show you two or three more just down the road," said neighbor Jack Roden.

We left a message with the landowner.

County officials tell us it's state law, which Bexar County says it can't change. 

As long as the stand follows county fire code, it can go up.