KATY, Texas - Legal fireworks used around homes near Katy have people packing bags and booking hotel rooms. Though the explosives violate homeowner association deed restrictions, HOA leadership feels powerless.
It is the most wonderful time for some to leave their homes in the Lakecrest community near Katy.
“This year we’re going to the bustling city of Brookshire,” said Steve Jones, a homeowner.
Jones and other said fireworks rock their homes every night, all night for a week before and after New Year’s Eve.
“You’re (lying) in bed, and it rocks you out of your bed,” said Stanley Piatek, homeowner and HOA president for the community. “Last night, they were going up in front of people’s houses and blowing off packs of (fireworks) and then running.”
“It’s like Disney World (and) living in the lagoon at EPCOT because fireworks are just going on all around us,” Jones said.
It is to the point that even in insulated closets wearing special calming vests, Jones’ shell-shocked and scared dogs Rusty and Bailey have no place to hide. So the family rents hotel rooms.
“Last year we went to Brenham,” Jones said. “Before that, we went to Columbus. What’s happening outside for us is not a big deal. It’s what’s happening with the dogs inside.”
Strictly enforced deed restrictions that ban fireworks in the community do not work.
“You feel kind of helpless as an HOA,” Piatek said.
Despite back-and-forth from neighbors on Facebook, they live outside Katy city limits in an unincorporated area of Harris County where fireworks are legal and legally sold mere blocks away.
HOA fines exist for fireworks violations. However, it only happens with proof.
“Unless we actually catch you out in the middle of the street lighting them and take pictures, we can’t do much,” Piatek said.
One hardly easy to get county ban would change things.
“I think it would be great if we could limit the amount of time the fireworks are going off,” Jones said.
Lakecrest homeowners, though, would settle for more courteous neighbors.
“If they said let’s shoot firecrackers until 9 o’clock or 10 o’clock would be great, because some people have to go work like me,” Piatek said.