Homeowner Jeff Noorda put up blue lights on his home in Legacy Farms to show solidarity to honor medical professionals. The HOA says he needs to take them down or face a fine. Photo credit KSL-TV
SARATOGA SPRINGS, Utah — In a time when people are looking to come together, who would think that blue lights would pull them apart? That’s what is happening in one Saratoga Springs neighborhood.
Jeff Noorda, a homeowner in the Legacy Farms neighborhood, decided he wanted to show support to the first responders.
“This is my one little way of saying thank you,” he told KSL TV.
The display is meant to pay tribute to the medical workers across they country that are fighting COVID-19. Noorda said it took over two weeks to put up the lights, which trim his house from top to bottom. He goes on to say that they are professional lights: they don’t look like holiday lights, and they are blue.
However, the homeowners’ association is pushing back. They sent a letter to Noorda saying take down the lights or receive a $50 fine.
“To get a letter for having lights on my house to say thank you, I was actually very shocked,” Noorda said. “We have got hundreds of thousands of people across the country and the world that are dedicated to going to work regardless of their safety.”
Joey Duckworth, president of Noorda’s homeowners’ association, stated, “So they [the lights] were supposed to be down by March 1st.”
He added, “As a community we are all very sympathetic to what is going on with the pandemic. We all have family and friends that are on the front line.”
The homeowners’ association asserted that Noorda did not ask for permission to put up the blue lights, and Duckworth disliked the ‘tone’ of Noorda’s correspondence.
“The tone of the email we received was so aggressive in nature and so combative we didn’t feel sincerity in what he was actually indicating,” Duckworth said.
Noorda conceded that he may have broken the rules of the HOA, but he said everyone is in uncharted territory.
“These are times that nobody has gone through before,” Noorda said.
A gesture that was supposed to be a sign of solidarity has now become a beacon of division.