LEAGUE CITY — League City officials approved amendments Tuesday night to the city’s liveaboard permit ordinance while also advancing new enforcement measures aimed at addressing homeless encampments, two issues that generated discussion among residents and council members during the meeting.
Mayor Nick Long said the city worked alongside marina owners, liveaboard residents and nearby homeowners to identify concerns and develop revisions to the ordinance.
“We worked with the liveaboards, we worked with the marina owners and the residents that live near the marinas and kind of listened to some of their concerns and what they want to change,” Long said.
One of the most notable changes extends the amount of time someone can stay aboard a boat without requiring a liveaboard permit. Under the previous ordinance, individuals could stay aboard for 10 days within a 30-day period. The amendment increases that allowance to 15 days.
Long said the change was intended to avoid burdening recreational boaters or people using their boats temporarily during vacations or weekends.
“The old ordinance said 10 days, we extended that to 15 days out of 30,” Long said. “That was to make sure the people that were just using their boats for summer vacation or things like that weren’t caught up in having to apply for the permit.”
The city also amended the permitting process to allow applicants who fail an inspection or application review to reapply after correcting issues identified by the city.
“If they fail to get the permit the first time, but they go back in and they fix all the issues that we’re seeing, I think we have no problem with them reapplying,” Long said.
Another major issue discussed involved wastewater disposal and marina infrastructure. Long said liveaboard residents expressed frustration over pump-out systems that have fallen into disrepair, preventing proper disposal of sewage from boats.
“We wouldn’t allow somebody to live in an apartment building that didn’t have working plumbing,” Long said. “That would be unacceptable.”
According to Long, city leaders plan to place greater enforcement pressure on marinas to maintain functioning waste disposal systems and prevent sewage from entering the water.
“We’ve got to keep waste out of the lake,” Long said. “It’s just not appropriate at all to expel waste directly into the water.”
Council members also discussed growing concerns regarding homeless encampments across the city. Long said the proposed measures are intended to give law enforcement clearer authority to address camps located near closed businesses, wooded areas and private properties.
“I do know that currently our officers lack a clear ability to enforce the will of people and the law,” Long said.
Long said the city hopes to connect homeless individuals with mental health treatment services, shelters and other community resources instead of allowing encampments to remain in unsafe locations.
“This will give our officers the ability to enforce the law and move those camps out and then get those people to more appropriate places,” Long said.
Not all council members agreed with the proposal. Council member Tom Crews raised concerns about how the regulations could affect churches and business owners attempting to help unhoused individuals.
“This is an issue the churches are going to have, because now they’re going to have to have written approval for homeless on their property,” Crews said during the meeting.
Crews added that some business owners feel they are “doing their Christian duty” by temporarily allowing homeless individuals to stay on their property.
The discussions come as League City officials continue balancing environmental concerns, public safety and community impacts tied to housing and homelessness issues across the city.
