Littleton City Council endorses new site plan for Jackass Hill Park

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Littleton City Council endorsed South Suburban Parks and Recreation District’s concept design plan for Jackass Hill Park, directing city sta to continue working with the district on further design details.

e resolution to support the plan passed on March 21 in a 5-1 vote, with Mayor Pro Tem Gretchen Rydin dissenting.

South Suburban teamed with a landscape design rm last year to create a new site plan after neighbors expressed concerns regarding after-hours park usage, noise levels and reworks. A grass re at the park in March 2022 brought more neighbor concerns to the city and district’s attention.

e new design plan, developed through a process that involved community engagement, aims to discourage misuse of the park and enhance its accessibility.

At the meeting, several public commentors expressed concern with the new plan, related to both design and management.

Desire for more park management

Sergio Gutierrez, who lives near the entrance of the park, said the new plan should involve management, not just a new design.

“I think if you invest that much money into upgrading the park without an enforcement mechanism, you’re really going to invite some of the prior activity that was happening,” he said. “It’s just going to be a nicer place for people who want to do bad things to do those things.”

He noted that the reduction in park hours last year, which made it open from sunrise to sunset, helped reduce problematic activity. He asked city council to consider keeping those hours in place.

“Without the hours, you don’t have the enforcement mechanism to tell people to leave the park,” he said.

Paul Marshall, another community member, asked for a management plan that encompasses public safety concerns as well as resident’s desires. He shared a story about being told to leave the park after sunset on the Fourth of July last year when he was hoping to watch reworks with his family.

“It seems like with being a block away from the park, we should be able to once a year enjoy some reworks after sunset,” he said. “My ask is to partner together and ask for that management plan with reasonable enforcement.”

Jena Dickey, whose home backs up to Jackass Hill, presented a letter signed by 67 of her neighbors. e letter requested a meeting with South Suburban leadership and city council representatives to speak about permanent park hours, ranger patrols and an exclusion to the park hours for July 4.

Design element concerns