LITTLETON, Colo. — For neighbors who live just below the well-loved viewpoint in Jackass Hill Park, the joy of living by the park relies heavily on the behavior of park visitors.
"Well, I've had tennis balls batted at me. We've had eggs thrown at our house," said Dawn McGonagle, who has lived in her home for the last 30 years, "Sometimes it's annoying. Most of the time, it's really nice not to have somebody behind you."
The point at the top of the hill offers a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains. It's a popular spot for graduation photos, sunrise viewing and even a wedding at one point.
There have also been close calls.
"I heard a big firework and looked out, and the hill on this first level was on fire, 10 feet behind our fence," McGonagle said of a scary situation a few years back.
"You get a whole vista of the entire Front Range. It's beautiful, but it invites a lot of new activity," said Paul Busch, who also lives below the view point.
McGonagle, Busch and other neighbors have been part of the decades-long discussion about what to do with the park. It's a well-used park that has been practically unchanged over the years.
Conversations about possibly adding sports fields or playgrounds have come and gone.
"If you go back to the original public record in the 90s — what we hear at that time is the community was well-divided in what they wanted to see here," said Melissa Reese-Thacker, director of planning with South Suburban Parks & Recreation.
When plans to redevelop the park were revived in 2022, South Suburban received overwhelming community support for a plan with minimal updates and to maintain Jackass Hill as a natural park.
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"It would be sad to see that ruined," McGonagle said of disrupting the natural feel of Jackass Hill Park.
That community input is now reflected in the plan, set to begin taking shape in August.
"By putting in some basic trails, we can address accessibility. We can get people of all abilities to this viewing point, preserve those walking trails that people use currently," explained Reese-Thacker. "We are using a combination of concrete and crusher-fine soft surface trails to meet accessibility needs and provide the community with the soft surface and the more natural feel that they're looking for."
The popular view point will also be moved back at least 30 feet away from the homes below to give residents more privacy.
"[We're] re-grading the area, creating a plaza space where they can gather with vegetation and a swale that defines the edge to prevent people from wanting to continue to go down the hillside," she said of the future buffer between the view point and the homes.
There will also be some enhancement of vegetation that has been worn down.
"We've had a lot of discussions with South Suburban. They've been very open to our ideas," Busch said. "They're talking about putting in some paved sidewalks and an outlook point and everything that's pushed off the edge of the hill, so that people aren't looking down into the houses here. It's acceptable to everybody in the neighborhood."
McGonagle is glad to see the changes as well but is concerned about park visitors actually staying in the areas they're supposed to.
"They do come right to the edge of the hill, and we can hear every word they say and smell everything they do," she said of the current situation.
Construction is set to begin in August and neighbors should expect some closures around the park, although the sidewalk around the park will remain open.
"The entire project will be completed in spring of '27 and that's really because we aren't able to re-vegetate the site until weather conditions are better," said Reese-Thacker.
RELATED: City of Littleton plans to reopen trail connecting Jackass Hill Park to High Line Canal Trail
