In the end, however, the council decided to take no action and instead directed the homeowner to work with neighbors and come to a compromise.

The council on Nov. 19 looked at placing new limits on traffic and sound and tightening up its lighting ordinance, which allows an exception for holiday lighting in December. Those were the concerns of Danielle Place area residents, who complained about the impacts of Alan Aerts' elaborate holiday display.

"At this point in time, that house does meet the Monte Sereno lighting ordinance," said Mayor Jack Lucas.

"What it boils down to, to me, is that we are looking to regulate our city because of one circumstance," said Councilman Erin Garner, who added that he didn't want to "make" Aerts do anything. "I don't think that it's our business," he said.

The other four council members shared that opinion, with Vice Mayor David Baxter suggesting that Aerts take a look at the hours his display is on and "trim that back a bit" to lessen the impact on his neighbors.

In response, Aerts said he would turn off the lights at 10 p.m. all seven days of the week instead of letting it run until 11 p.m. on weekends. Aerts said, however, that he would not be open to only lighting the display up three days a week, as was suggested. Aerts said he starts putting up the display the day after Halloween and starts taking it apart New Year's Day, just to let it run for one month.

Aerts was also amenable to hiring someone to direct traffic, since neighbors complained about the unsafe conditions caused by the people driving by to see the display. In their presentation, Danielle Place residents Le and Susan Nguyen brought a video that showed cars driving in and turning around in the tiny, four-home cul-de-sac.

To further sweeten the deal, Aerts promised to donate $2,000 to each of his three neighbors' favorite charities to make up for the "petty, short-term inconveniences," adding to his already extensive list of donations.

"Our holiday display is just an extension of giving back to the community," Aerts said.

But to the Nguyens, the traffic is the biggest problem.

"Our sidewalk-less, lightless streets were never meant to sustain such traffic," said Susan Nguyen, adding that more than 400 cars circulated around the cul-de-sac during the 4¹/2 hours of Aerts' Halloween lighting display Oct. 31.

Nguyen made references to Bicknell resident Barbara Holden's letter to the council, which mentioned one child almost getting run over, teenagers mooning residents and garbage and beer bottles being left in front of homes.

"These things never happened before in our neighborhood," Nguyen said.

Nguyen also presented a petition with 49 signatures of nearby residents, including those of Los Gatos and Saratoga.

Her husband, Le Nguyen, pointed to the municipal code, which says one of the city's purposes is to protect the residential character of the city in a setting of "rural atmosphere and natural, scenic beauty." That is a high quality of life for a Monte Sereno resident.

"What is low quality for me? No peace, noisy, unsafe, no privacy," Nguyen said.

Elm Park resident Sylvia Moore said her street is affected because "this traffic spills onto other streets." Moore said the display impacts property values because Realtors must note the Aerts' home as a nuisance when showing nearby houses to prospective buyers.

Moore suggested that Aerts benefit a larger community by placing his display elsewhere, such as Monte Sereno City Hall, Oak Meadow Park or Vasona Lake County Park.

Bob McDonald, who lives on Elm Park Court, said that while there is "no question" that the display benefits children, it is "adding that experience into a private neighborhood as a public nuisance. Unfortunately, we have excess, and I think this is a classic case of excess."

"The problem is, I would not want to live next door to Great America, which is what this is bordering on," said Via Lomita resident Robert Hausen. "You're letting homeowners impose their taste, their sense of regulations" on the rest of the area.

The Bernals, a Stratford Court family, defended the Aerts' display.

Ten-year-old Annie Bernal said the neighbors should ask Aerts to "tone it down," but said, "I don't think that somebody should come and ruin the fun for somebody else."

"It was a little bit chaotic, but it wouldn't have been that chaotic if they hadn't brought in the news crews and all the newspapers," Bernal said.

Bernal's sister, 13-year-old Mary Cate, told the council that Aerts' display is proportionate to a normal household having decorations that would fill their whole front yard. The difference is, Bernal said, Aerts has a huge property and needs more features than the average person to take up the space.

Their mother, Catherine, said the city's lighting ordinance is "very restrictive" compared to that of other municipalities. The issue "is an individual issue that needs to be dealt with individually and not on a citywide basis," Bernal said.

Several other residents urged the council to keep the regulations the way they are.

"There appears to be a propensity by this council to become a court of neighborhood disputes," said Via Pinto resident Carl Cooper, who added that ordinances sometimes unnecessarily arise out of single incidents between homeowners.

While Nicole Jakaby, who lives on Smith Creek Drive, sympathizes with the neighbors, she said, "I truly believe the neighbors should work it out themselves."

According to Aerts, he had already responded to complaints by canceling his order for additional decorations, removing flashing lights from his Halloween display and having a maintenance worker pick up rubbish from the street every morning. More than 1,000 man-hours are used "to maintain the show and take it down," Aerts said, and it costs $10,000 alone just to store the decorations during the year.

"I was raised to believe in patience, tolerance and understanding of others," Aerts said.

Aerts' wife, Bonnie, said the lights in the Nguyens' video stemmed from the cars going in and out of Danielle Court and not the house itself. "We don't live in a rural area. It's the suburbs," Bonnie Aerts said.

"By letting the neighbors have their quality of life, you're taking mine away from me," Bonnie Aerts said. "They really do need to lighten up, to loosen up a little."

Although Councilwoman Suzanne Jackson said she thinks Aerts' outdoor lighting "diminishes other properties," she agreed with Cooper. "We've ended up making some ordinances to the city as a whole," Jackson said.

Jackson added, however, that something needs to be done. "Excitement and exuberance sometimes get carried away," Jackson said, referring to the Aerts' attitude.

Vice Mayor Baxter said that if the neighbors could not work out an agreement, the issue should come back to the city council.

"What you're doing is a real generosity on your part," Nesbet told Aerts. However, "whatever the definition of quality of life is, you don't have the right to impose that on someone else," Nesbet said.

According to Nesbet, the council had gotten involved precisely because the neighbors could not work with each other.

Mayor Jack Lucas said he was on the same page as his peers but suggested getting an officer from the Los Gatos­Monte Sereno Police Department to man the traffic instead of requiring Aerts to hire enforcement.

Meanwhile, the lighting ordinance exception is in the process of being tweaked, since the city attorney has said the December holiday provision is religious and violates the Constitution.

Lucas said one thing to include is hours of operation for lighting displays and told city staff to make sure there will be no discrimination against other holidays.