One city council member cautioned against the city council becoming “Grinches” on the issue of Christmas light displays.
DALLAS — In December, hundreds of people flocked to a Preston Hollow home covered in Christmas lights that dazzled spectators and went viral online but also caused traffic issues and cost $25,000 in police resources. Now, the Dallas City Council is considering potential changes in hopes of preventing similar issues this year.
The nearly 9,000-square-foot home and yard in the 6200 block of Deloache Avenue were covered in lights from top to bottom.
Off-duty Dallas police officers were called to help with traffic flow as the crowds increased, and eventually, on-duty officers were also called to work eight nights at the Preston Hollow home over the holidays, leading to $25,375 in personnel, vehicle and helicopter costs.
This week, the Dallas City Council’s quality of life, arts and culture committee discussed potential changes to “add teeth” to city code to crack down on similar “extraordinary neighborhood events” and the resulting light, noise and traffic issues.
“At the core of this, though we’re calling this extraordinary neighborhood events, it’s really about extraordinary neighborhood disruption,” said City Council member Gay Donnell Willis, who represents the area where the holiday light display was. “We don’t want to disrupt people driving along looking at lights or something like that…but when you cross into what is described in this case as commercial, because what I was working with looked very commercial in nature. It was extraordinary. It was really cool, but not in the middle of a city street.”
One of the potential policy changes brought up Tuesday was adding an excessive light nuisance to the city code.
“The suggested enhancements we have for you all to review today is one, the excessive light nuisance to just add some more teeth to that code for us and consider prohibiting lighting that leads to sustained gatherings, traffic congestion or blocked emergency access, which is some of the challenges that we saw in the Christmas lights scenario in North Dallas,” Dallas Code Compliance Services Director Chris Christian told the committee Monday. “The second thing we would like you all to look at is a new land use for event venues.”
According to a presentation the committee received, gatherings that currently require permits under Dallas city code for outdoor events on public and private property include neighborhood parades, home tours like those in the Swiss Avenue Historical District, and running events like the Dallas Marathon, but not crowds like those at the home on Deloache over the holidays.
Some city council members expressed concerns about cracking down on light displays, though.
“On that lighting prohibition…many of us drive Christmas light streets, so would we not be able to do that anymore?” Dallas City Council Member Jaynie Schultz asked.
Instead, Schultz asked the committee to potentially consider traffic volume in determining which events or gatherings require a permit.
“Why couldn’t we simply define a special event as the anything greater than 100?” Schultz asked. “Is there a possibility of just simply saying if you have more than 100 people at your area and you don’t have a permit, you will be shut down?”
Council member Paul Ridley also said he was concerned about the potential for the city council to become “Grinches” on the issue of Christmas lights.
“I’m concerned that we end up becoming Grinches, stamping out anyone’s holiday displays in an excess of zeal here,” Ridley said.
The issue is expected to come back before city council members in the future.