Judge denies city’s restraining order against Robolights property

The owner of Robolights in Palm Springs has cleared a hurdle in court after the City of Palm Springs was denied a temporary restraining order on Wednesday.

A judge denied a request from the city of Palm Springs to bar residents from entering the Robolights property, which would have made the holiday attraction off limits until its owner removed two structures deemed unsafe by the city.

The city sought a temporary restraining order that would only permit Robolights owner and operator Kenny Irwin Jr. and a licensed contractor to enter the property until Irwin removed two structures that “constitute immediate life safety hazards,” according to court documents filed by the city.

The request was the latest effort by the city to bar public entry onto the property, after a May electrical fire caused by a pool equipment motor led city building inspectors to uncover what they said were “a total of 10 life-safety, building and fire code violations.”

After Wednesday’s court ruling, City Attorney Doug Holland said, “The goal of the City has never been to shut Robolights down,”Our goal has always been to ensure the property owner is in compliance with the necessary life/safety, building, fire and zoning requirements applicable to a single-family residential property in Palm Springs.”

Irwin denied that the structures constituted a hazard, saying he had an independent inspection conducted that did not reveal any danger to the public.

On Nov. 23, the city issued a Limited Entry Order, prohibiting anyone other than Irwin and his licensed contractor from entering the property until the two structures were removed. However, the city says that Irwin continued allowing patrons to enter Robolights and was subsequently cited at least eight times since the Limited Entry Order was posted.

KESQ and CBS Local 2’s Reporter Jeremy Chen was at the courtroom Wednesday morning. And the Christmas light fight in Palm Springs is now winding down and will remain open to visitors.

The city has cited the Dec. 2 deadly fire at an Oakland warehouse as an example of safety concerns that spurred Palm Springs’ actions against the property.

“As we have seen with the tragic Oakland warehouse fire that killed 36 people, cities have a responsibility to ensure life-safety violations are corrected, particularly in a case like Robolights where the public is visiting
the property regularly,” City Attorney Douglas Holland said. “Due to the lack of compliance, in this situation we find it necessary to ask a judge to resolve the ongoing issues and order the property owner to correct the life/safety violations.”

A day before Wednesday’s court proceedings, Irwin reached out to the community for support via Facebook, writing:

‘[The] City of Palm Springs will be asking the Court to issue an order requiring me to prohibit all of you from entering ROBOLIGHTS until I remove the Santa Claus and Godzilla inflatable decorations which have been a part of the ROBOBLIGHTS holiday light and art display for the past 20 years.
At the same time I will be asking the Court to order the City of Palm Springs to remove its Limited Entry Order posted to the property because neither the Santa Claus nor the Godzilla inflatable decorations which have been a part of the ROBOBLIGHTS holiday light and art display for the past 20 years nor any other part of the ROBOLIGHTS holiday light and art display are unsafe or dangerous.‘