Photo courtesy of Kemah resident

In June, the cities of Kemah and Seabrook hosted the annual Texas Outlaw Challenge, an event featuring high-end performance boats and a “Stampede Street Party” on Kemah’s 6th Street on June 22, 2023.

Approved by the Kemah City Council at a January 4, 2023 meeting, the event involved closing streets in the entertainment district to traffic for “bars, bands, and extreme boat displays,” resulting in what locals described as a loud, festival atmosphere slated to end at 11 p.m. according to the posted schedule.

According to records from the Kemah Police Department, despite the multiple sources of music broadcast by boat displays and live bands that evening, the only sound complaint reported during the party was directed at Palapa’s, a 6th Street Bar at the center of a federal lawsuit against the city.

Police visited Palapa’s at around 8 p.m., and at 10:05 p.m. Officer A. Mancillas issued the manager of the bar a citation for “loud noise.” The manager says that since she believed Palapa’s was being targeted, she used her own sound device to take readings and claims other bars had higher decibel levels.

According to the Kemah noise ordinance, between the hours of 7 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, the maximum level permitted is 75 decibels. However, noise during the operation of a city-approved “special event” is exempt.

In the summer of 2021, a former city building code official ordered the closure of a four-story building housing the indoor portion of Palapa’s, allegedly without citing code violations or giving the owners instructions for code compliance. Since then, only the outdoor portion has been in operation, although the owner repeatedly sought an explanation and instructions from the city on re-opening the building.

Filed in January 2022, the federal lawsuit alleges the city engaged in unconstitutional takings and violated due process and equal protection rights. During a recent hearing on standing before a federal magistrate judge, Kemah’s attorney Bill Helfand argued that the owner had never appealed to the mayor despite depositions from both the owner and former Mayor Carl Joiner stating the two had met to discuss having permits returned to the property.

Records provided to The Texan indicate that only four sound violation citations or warnings were issued over the past 12 months, but the documents curiously exclude a citation given to Palapa’s on November 26, 2022, which the owner is challenging in municipal court.

In that incident, a Kemah police officer stated on video that he had been ordered to act against Palapa’s by “higher ups,” including Police Chief Holland Jones and former City Administrator Walter Gant. In court filings, the owner alleges the officer used the Extech digital sound level meter without the accompanying windscreen recommended by the manufacturer and required by city ordinance.

The Kemah Police Department has not yet responded to open records requests for police body camera footage for the incidents in November 2022 and June 2023.

During a January meeting, the city council discussed sound ordinance enforcement problems and Jones warned that they must be careful about “giving the appearance of selective enforcement.”

Councilmember Darren Broadus also expressed concern over citations given to just some of the businesses grouped on the city’s 6th Street, saying, “I’ve been down there, and lots of times the officers — I’ve talked to them — they can’t tell where the noise is coming from ‘cause there’s multiple bars that have musicians playing, so how do you measure the noise and know which facility is actually creating the noise that’s going down?”

“Everybody might be under, but collectively they’re over [the decibel limit],” added Broadus.

On Jones’ advice, the mayor and council agreed that city police should not issue further citations until sound reading problems could be resolved.

The city’s former attorneys, Dick Gregg Jr. and Dick Gregg III, also wrote to the city council in September 2020 to warn that “any shutdown of an establishment for violation of a noise ordinance will result in a lawsuit against the City for a ‘taking,’” and that the potential for liability would be very high and would be paid out of the city’s general fund. The letter notes Helfand warned the Texas Municipal League’s insurance would not cover lawsuits over “takings.”

In addition to sound ordinance enforcement, citizens continue to seek answers from the city regarding alleged code violations on properties owned by former Mayor Matt Wiggins.

Resident Steve Tinkle said he has repeatedly contacted the city regarding a parcel at 705 7th Street where Wiggins has installed four manufactured cottages allegedly without necessary plumbing permits and without adherence to flood planning ordinances despite being in the city’s “Flood Zone A.”

Additionally, the cottages were manufactured in 2008, in accordance with 2004 building code requirements, for the State of Mississippi as temporary housing for still-homeless Hurricane Katrina refugees. Tinkle has requested proof the dwellings are approved for use in Texas, but interim city administrator Kent Myers and newly elected Mayor Robin Collins have not provided an answer.

Collins and other city officials are alleged to have undisclosed conflicts of interest, many of which relate to Wiggins.

Tinkle has also requested a response from the city regarding multiple unpermitted parking lots operated by Wiggins.

Myers’ presentation at the July 5, 2023, city council meeting stated that the code enforcement complaint for 705 7th Street has been “resolved,” but provided no details.

Another property for which Wiggins holds a financial interest, 510 10th Street, still has a pending complaint according to Myers’ July 5 report. Leaked emails indicate Wiggins was notified of the code violations last summer, although the city failed to produce related documents in response to an open records request. Documents related to the 10th Street property, along with other missing or destroyed city documents, are part of open records law complaints pending before the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG).

Under city ordinance, property owners with code violations may not obtain any new permits or certificates of occupancy, but Wiggins was given a sewage permit for the 7th Street property last month.

The Galveston County District Attorney has not responded to criminal complaints filed against the city and has not returned a request for comment.

In June, in a directed verdict under Judge Patricia Grady, Wiggins was found not guilty of felony charges of abuse of official capacity related to his stint on a Galveston County water board during which he admitted to including letters criticizing his political opponent Joiner with residents’ water bills.

Among other pending lawsuits, Helfand sued the OAG last year on behalf of Kemah to block the release of a report investigating Jones sought by citizens through Texas’ open records laws. The city also faces a lawsuit in state district court over the taking of property as well as a federal lawsuit regarding a hanging in the city jail.