LITTLETON, Colo. — Nestled south of Denver near the Front Range foothills, Littleton combines small town charm with inviting outdoor spaces.
Denver7 | Your Voice spoke with several community members who say that’s a perfect combination, including a group of women walking with donkeys along the popular High Line Canal Trail.
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“I love all the open spaces,” said one of them, Karen Williams, who grew up in Littleton. “I love the trails, I get to walk a donkey… I do photography, so I find eagles and owls and deer and everything there is in nature, and it can be found right here.”
Littleton’s extensive trail network draws cyclists, walkers and joggers every day.
“It's beautiful,” said Rebecca Matson, who works in Littleton. “It's just a nice piece of nature right in the middle of the city… It keeps our kids off electronics. It gives them a place to go that's safe, and it gives us the beautiful Colorado life that we all moved here for... Just a nice, safe place to raise a family.”
“Our school district where my kids went to school, in Littleton Public Schools, were great,” added Julia Guzman, who lives and works in Littleton. “We're very blessed to be here, I think.”
Littleton was recently named the Colorado town "where a real-life Hallmark holiday story is most likely to unfold."
“When I was a kid in high school, you know, only the old folks hung out here,” said Littleton resident Ian Dalton, speaking on Main Street. “And now, there's a lot of new businesses, new bars, new restaurants. It's just really invigorated and a really, really great place to spend an afternoon.”
Many residents have been in the community for generations.
“People put down roots here in Littleton,” recently re-elected mayor Kyle Schlachter told Denver7. “It's amazing how many people say, you know, ‘I’ve been here since the 50s, or 60s, or 70s.’”
It’s up to Schlachter and Littleton City Council to make sure both long-timers and newcomers are being heard.
“I think the biggest thing moving forward is: How do we continue to make what we have here in Littleton already better?” Schlachter said, when asked about the city’s biggest priority in the new year. “I think what we need to do is start reinvesting back into the community, into our infrastructure, into our streets, into our trails.”
The city recently completed improvements where the High Line Canal Trail meets Jackass Hill Park, and is in the middle of safety and mobility improvements through a partnership with the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Safer Main Streets Grant.
That project led to controversy when a popular trail along Mineral Avenue, made up of finely crushed rocks, was transformed into a concrete path last fall.
City leaders say the move was necessary to increase accessibility along that trail, though many neighbors were angry that the city did not compromise and include an adjacent soft surface trail as well.
There is also a divisive community debate over the future of housing in Littleton.
A contentious ballot measure passed in November’s election changes the city’s charter, freezing single-family residential zones to where they were on Jan. 1, 2025.
The measure also requires the city to hold a public vote in order to make future changes to the charter to allow future zoning district changes and necessitates all affected property owners be notified by first-class mail.
Advocates say the change is simply-worded and a way to preserve the single-family homes that give the city its unique charm and character, while still allowing individual property owners to make changes.
Critics say the change is too restrictive to allow for necessary housing to be built in the future, and takes the city out of alignment with state law that eases requirements for building accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.
Others raised concerns about rising housing costs and the rising cost of living in general, among others.
“I do wish that we had more diversity in this community,” said Guzman. “That would be nice. But other than that, it's just so pleasant and lovely.”
“I think having everyone have a voice, and being a part of that and making sure that we can come together and find compromise and things that we all want to see in the community, is really important,” said Schlachter.
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