Neighbors in the Sundial subdivision, located off Hoy Road, will have to deal with traffic caused by a Christmas light display for another year, but most residents are excited.
Madison mayor and board of aldermen voted 4-0 to approve the show this Christmas. One alderman abstained, and two were absent.
However, some neighbors are tired of all the traffic generated by the display.
Carol Richardson and her husband, Mike, have been living in Sundial for nearly 15 years, and they have turned their home into an annual holiday tradition. Their home and yard is filled with decorations, wire frame characters, inflatables, and at least 100,000 Christmas lights.
“There has never really been a designated traffic route,” Carol said. “So we’ve had traffic coming in both ways. There’s a back entrance to come into our neighborhood and an entrance off Hoy Road. The issue is traffic is coming both directions and maybe caused some delays for some of our residents to get home.”
The Richardsons have met with the Madison police department to create a traffic flow plan that will allow viewers to get a good look at the show without holding up residents and without impeding emergency responders.
“We have met with the police department, and they have come up with a traffic flow plan, which will have traffic coming in off Hoy Road onto Tisdale Road, coming back around the back side of the neighborhood and exiting back onto Hoy Road (from) Sundial,” she explained.
This traffic plan, if used correctly, will allow Sundial residents to return home easily. There will also be officers and signs posted so that viewers remain aware of the traffic plan and do not hold up other viewers or neighbors.
“There will be no u-turns allowed to use a neighborhood driveway,” Richardson said. “Just exit and renter the route if you want to see it again. That was an issue — people flashing lights into peoples’ homes.”
Police will have a major presence, especially during weekends, throughout the duration of the Richardsons’ light show, which lasts for a little more than a month from Thanksgiving through Christmas.
To compromise with neighbors, the Richardsons will also be turning off lights at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday nights and at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights.
“We previously, during weeknights, left the lights on until 10 p.m. On weekends it was maybe 11-ish (p.m.).”
attorney Eddy Edwards is one of the neighbors who is opposed to the annual light show. Edwards lives across the street and down one home from the Richardsons.
Edwards originally reached out to the Richardsons in December 2016, asking that they reconsider their light show for the next year. They spoke again in July and could not reach a compromise.
Edwards’ complaints began three years ago, when he and a couple of other neighbors felt the show and the crowd it attracted became excessive.
“We feel the light show got out of hand for a local residential neighborhood. The traffic backed up on Sundial several hundred cars out of the neighborhood onto Tisdale or Hoy Road. I can’t get in my neighborhood when I come in my home at night, and I can’t leave my house to go to the grocery store without sitting in my driveway to get out of the house and get back in.”
Edwards is also concerned that a fire truck or an ambulance wouldn’t make it to a home on time because of the traffic.
“I have no objection whatsoever to them doing a light show… But it needs to be in public place with adequate traffic control and where neighborhoods are not put at risk for some emergency.”
Edwards said Mayor Butler attempted to find a different location in Madison, but the Richardsons declined.
Edwards said that even if traffic is controlled with the new plan from the police department, the noise, trash and headlights pose a problem for him and his neighbors.
“When the traffic is in the neighborhood, there are cars backed up from Richardson house, sitting in front of our house idling and pumping exhaust. We can’t sit out on the deck because of smell. People throw their cans and trash out in our yard. We’ve had at least three incidents where people ran their car into our yard and rutted up the yard. People turn around in my driveway, shining lights into house from 5:30-10:30…”
Edwards said all of these add up to the light show being a nuisance for him, his home and other Sundial neighbors.
Another concern is the cost to the city.
“We’re spending $10,000 to $20,000 in providing police protection to man traffic, which could be avoided. Sundial Road has had significant damage in front of the Richardsons’ home… It will have to be resurfaced much quicker than it otherwise would have.
“They’re good people. I think they could help the community by moving it where it wouldn’t endanger neighbors and be nuisance to others and much easier to view by more people.”
Richardson said the majority of neighbors they’ve polled indicated they enjoy the display.
“There are maybe 60 to 70 homes out here, each are three to eight-acre lots… We’ve had a lot of people come by and just speak to us as we put up the display.”
If interested in viewing the light show this year, visit www.richardsonlightshow.com or Facebook to check hours and any weather-related or additional closings.
