Thousands of people come to Santee each holiday season to enjoy elaborate displays at about 75 houses in the East County neighborhood known as Starlight Circle, but the beloved event is not without its problems. Along with the festive Christmas scenes, lights, music and hot cocoa come traffic, noise, trash and sidewalk vendors in front of the homes on West Glendon Circle and East Glendon Circle, the streets that make up the Starlight Circle neighborhood. City officials are considering ways of working with residents to mitigate those issues without taking control of the event or requiring permits. The Santee City Council last week approved the first reading of an ordinance that will allow the city manager to declare and enforce rules and regulations on privately sponsored events that affect city functions. The addition to the Santee municipal code would allow the city to deploy resources to protect the public health, safety and welfare of people during the event. The second reading is scheduled for Oct. 23. Mayor John Minto said the action is a first step in trying to find a balance between helping the community event while not taking it over. ““We want to be as little of the big brother as possible,” he said. “This is mostly just to give us a first step in helping out the community. There’s a lot of people concerned about things that happened in the past.” The city already provides trash cans, traffic signs, parking at nearby Santana High School and temporarily prohibits parking on Tomel Court, a short street that leads to Starlight Circle from Magnolia Avenue. Additional regulations have not yet been proposed, but Assistant City Attorney Tari Williams said they could regulate traffic flow, noise and hours of operation, require portable toilets and prohibit vendors or performances. City Councilmember Rob McNelis, City Manager Marlene Best and city Marketing Manager Bree Osborne met with about 20 residents of Starlight Circle on Sept. 30 to discuss the proposed change in anticipation of the council meeting. “We want to start off with recognition that you don’t need us to do your event,” Best said at the Sept. 30 meeting. “ I think it’s become a huge asset for our community. But because it’s been so popular, we have to help find some ways to ease some of the impact it has on the rest of the community.” Best said that a meeting held in the neighborhood last year resulted in some ideas for the city to help mitigate issues with the event. “What we’re doing now is to make sure that legally, the city manager has a way to work with neighborhood groups to make sure some of those things happen without forcing you to come in and get a temporary use permit or a minor conditional use permit or any other type of permit,” she said. While the new ordinance was prompted by issues with the holiday event, Best said it would apply to all large privately organized events in the city. One resident attending the Sept. 30 meeting asked if the city could supply security. Best said the city could only do that if the event were city-sponsored. “We’re trying to thread the needle and get as much to you as we can, but not limit it and take over the event entirely,” she said. Another resident said food vendors were a significant problem on Tomel Court because they were blocking the sidewalk and forcing people, including some in wheelchairs and pushing strollers, to go into the street. The woman said the Sheriff’s Department would not respond to a call about the problem, and said she was told to submit a complaint through the city’s app. McNelis said the Sheriff’s Department should respond to the problem because blocking the sidewalk is a safety issue. He also said he would speak to someone in the department about the problem, and he gave people in the room his personal number to call if they continued to have similar problems. Best also said vendors are required to be mobile, and they are not allowed to set up a stand that blocks the sidewalk.