Mayor’s race focuses on Katy’s growth
After floodwaters devastated Katy one year ago, residents inside the west Houston suburb began asking the same question: could officials have done more to prepare the city’s infrastructure against flooding?
Like other parts of the region that experienced catastrophic rainfall last April, Katy was hit by what experts claim was a rare event where flood prevention was impossible. But doubt lingered inside this once-bedroom community, where fast development has stirred concern over the management of growth.
Now, that debate is rearing its head in Katy’s mayoral election.
Chuck Brawner, a strongly backed candidate who has served as a Katy city council member, is facing Thomas Hill Adams, a former council member who has criticized Katy’s current leadership for neglecting needs like better roads and drainage as officials have welcomed development.
“We’ve been doing business the same way in Katy for years,” said Adams, 59. “But when Katy was a sleepy little town, the consequences weren’t what they are now.”
Adams, an insurance broker, served on Katy’s City Council from 2002 to 2008. Since his departure, the 14-square-mile municipality has seen significant business development.
Just weeks ago, Katy officials announced plans for an Amazon distribution center that is expected to bring 1,000 jobs to the city of roughly 16,000. Last year, officials scored a deal with mega-convenience store chain Buc-ee’s for a 100-pump gas station being built off Interstate 10.
The 25-acre Typhoon Texas Waterpark opened in 2016 by Katy Mills, the city’s growing entertainment hub where workers are beginning construction of a boardwalk project that will include a shopping plaza, living quarters and hotel and convention center.
New residential communities such as Cane Island also have taken root.
But while city leaders have been hungry for business, they’ve ignored other needs, Adams said.
Too little, too late
A project to improve drainage along Morton Road, a flood-prone street, is expected to be completed soon — long after some residents say it should have.
Officials ordered ditchcleaning around several areas of Katy after last April’s flood damaged about 110 homes and 25 businesses inside the city. They hired the engineering company Costello Inc. to perform a flood study that will examine long-term solutions for flood prone areas such as the Cane Island Branch.
It’s too little, too late, though, said Adrienne Davitz, a 33-year-old Katy resident.
“(Katy) is going to grow no matter what — regardless of whether we like it,” Davitz said.“There’s been a lot of acquiring of big business, and I think the infrastructure that is failing us currently is not getting enough attention. Hill Adams grasps that.”
Davitz owns a home next to Katy High School and the Cane Island Branch. It has a 10-acre yard, which Davitz said floods every time it rains hard. Officials have been slow to help, Davitz claimed. Other flood-prone areas such as the crossing between Rice and Dollins streets also have been neglected, she added.
Last June, officials celebrated the opening of a towering new City Hall that cost taxpayers around $7.5 million. Meanwhile, construction for a second fire station stalled three years after a consultant told officials it was needed. After initially saying it would open this year, officials said the station likely won’t open until 2018.
“There are some things we need to work on, like better communication with the staff and with the public,” Brawner, 70, acknowledged. “But I’m running a campaign to serve the people of Katy. My special interests are the citizens and families of Katy. Nothing is ever 100 percent perfect, but I think we’re mostly doing a good job.”
Incumbent drops out
Brawner, a retired police chief from the Spring Branch school district, has a vast support network that includes his good friend, Fabol Hughes, Katy’s current mayor. Hughes, 76, dropped out of a re-election bid on Feb. 17, the last day candidates could file to run for the May 6 election. He cited health issues. On that same day, Brawner resigned his council position and filed to run for mayor.
Hughes donated at least $10,000 of his campaign funds to Brawner’s campaign, according to campaign finance records. Two former Katy mayors, Johnny Nelson and Don Elder, also have endorsed Brawner.
Some residents are critical that Hughes’ status quo will continue through Brawner if he’s elected. Others see it as a positive.
After all, the city’s brand and tax revenue have grown through business development. And officials have dropped residential property tax rates by 2 cents each of the past four years. Officials also have labored to keep business projects away from the city’s downtown and residential areas.
Some also see Adams as arrogant and said he has highlighted problems more than solutions.
“If things like the fire station are the only thing that Adams has to (complain) about, then I think Fabol Hughes did a good job,” Bullet Watson, a 20year resident of Katy, said on a recent afternoon at Snappy’s Cafe and Grill, a downtown Katy restaurant popular among longtime residents. “Brawner will continue the progression of what’s been going on in the city.”
Adams and Brawner both have spent thousands on advertisements. Almost everywhere a red “vote Chuck Brawner” sign appears, a red “Hill Adams for mayor” is planted next to it, including in front of Snappy’s.
While elections in suburban towns like Katy often go uncontested, Adams said Katy’s leadership needs to be held accountable for its shortfalls. Another council position up for election, that of Ward B council member Jimmy Mendez, also has challengers.
“I’m not against economic development,” Adams said. “But it doesn’t mean our streets can not be taken care of. We haven’t managed the growth. The growth has managed us.”