A Christmas display of about 60,000 lights on Baron Road in Waxhaw, North Carolina, has grown into a lawsuit and a neighborhood ballot. Homeowner Neil Heuer’s “High Flying Lights” show, with its lights synchronized to music that plays through visitors’ car radios, now sits at the center of a fight with his homeowners association over what exterior lighting the rules allow.
Residents of the Aero Plantation subdivision, which has just over 100 homes, have until 5 p.m. on Jan. 30 to return written ballots on two proposed amendments, according to a Charlotte Observer report by Théoden Janes carried on Yahoo News. Each amendment needs approval from at least two-thirds of all lots, not just two-thirds of the ballots that come back.
How a Light Show Became a Neighborhood Dispute
The display features synchronized LED lights, lasers and other effects, and the dispute began with traffic. Visiting cars on Baron Road have become the sticking point in a neighborhood with private roads and an airstrip where small planes have the right of way. Light shows like this one are among the seasonal traditions Americans take seriously, and the practical side of hanging that many lights, including extension cord mistakes, is its own topic.
A separate Observer profile, republished on AOL, describes Heuer as a 48-year-old semi-retired father of three who moved his family to Waxhaw from Naples, Florida, about five years ago. The show runs about an hour and repeats from sunset until 10 p.m. nightly, with a playlist of more than 15 songs sent to car radios by a low-power FM transmitter. Heuer told WJZY in Charlotte last December that viewers typically stop for about three minutes and that the show draws about four cars a night…