The viral Preston Hollow mansion known for its dazzling holiday displays has created a financial nightmare before Christmas for the city of Dallas.
The cost of Dallas Police Department assistance with issues like traffic control around the mansion rose to $30,493 in 2025, from $25,375.94 in 2024, according to a recent Dallas city council committee presentation.
The 2024 display in the 6200 block of Deloache Avenue featured twinkling lights from top to bottom, along with decorations including nutcrackers, reindeer, and Santas.
The crowds when the display went viral for the first time that year prompted Dallas city council members to consider changes to city code to alleviate the traffic, noise, and light issues from “extraordinary neighborhood events” like the holiday decor.
Then, the home was decked out with decorative pumpkins, skeletons, spiders and horror movie characters for Halloween last year. After the spooky decorations came down, new Grinch-themed decorations were put up ahead of the Christmas holiday in short order.
To help alleviate the traffic issues in 2025, a neighborhood group got a special event permit limiting access to residents and their guests on certain nights in December and began paying off-duty officers to enforce the restriction.
The costs to manage traffic may have been higher without the permit, according to the city. The committee presentation noted that the permit “reduced city burden and supported street management.”
Even though most respondents to a community survey didn’t report frequent “event-related activities” in their neighborhoods, such events can still pose risks, according to the presentation.
“Many residential streets lack sidewalks and other infrastructure needed to safely support hundreds of attendees, even when temporary street closures are in place,” the presentation stated. “Prior to permitted street closures, residents have reported traffic congestion and gridlock associated with these events. In some cases, this congestion has restricted residents’ ability to enter or exit their homes and has delayed or complicated access for first responders.”
City council members have long discussed how to add teeth to Dallas’ jack-o-lantern of neighborhood event regulations.
Some of the potential changes to city code considered to help alleviate noise issues from similar neighborhood events include limiting use of “amplified sound equipment” at any home that “produces a sound audible beyond the property line of the premises between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.”
The mansion’s owner, Ryan Devitis, told WFAA in December that the displays started as a personal project and grew as they gained increased attention on social media.
“I really don’t feel like I’m the problem,” Devitis told WFAA. “I didn’t ask for this.”
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