PLEASANT HILL (KRON) — Pleasant Hill city leaders are building a gate at a popular park because they said noise complaints and litter are a growing problem.
It would be built at a major entryway for the park. Right now, this entrance is open to cars.
But next month, park officials said there will be a gate after sundown.
It’s an idea they have been contemplating for months because of complaints about noise and excessive amounts of litter in the park.
Pleasant Hill police said they have come to Dinosaur Hill Park 31 times this year.
Sometimes, it is to respond to calls. And other times, they are just stopping by to make sure no one is hanging around late at night.
“The neighbors, of course, would complain about noise,” Park association leader Zak Shesf said. “A lot of the people that walk the park would complain about trash and also just the graffiti, broken glass, trash, just things like that, and we would like to not have to be up here all the time cleaning this up.”
City leaders said the issue is becoming expensive to deal with. So, they decided to lock up the park.
“Recently, it had come to our attention that staff had done a study and realized they have been spending well over $5,000 over about a 6-month period in staff time on cleaning up this park,” Shesf said. “What can we do to mitigate this? And what we found was most of the stuff is happening at night. So, we thought that if we could create a gate right here, lock it up, basically from dusk to dawn.”
Residents KRON talked with say they love the park.
“My friend showed me this park,” resident Andrew Wolfsmith said. “We come up after work and just hang out and figure out what we are going to do with ourselves after the day. Just enjoy the scenery. It’s nice to be able to hang out almost in our backyard and have a beautiful lookout like this.”
Parkgoers said if it means less trash, then the gate after dark is a good idea.
“I see it around all the time, and I pick it up because it bothers me,” Wolfsmith said. “I don’t like that in my community, but I don’t understand why there is litter when there is a trash can right here. Doesn’t add up”
Park leaders said the gate is expected to go up next month.
It will cost them a one-time, $3,000 fee, plus a small daily fee to pay someone to come lock it up once the sun goes down.
They hope it will make the park quieter and cleaner for those who want to enjoy it during daylight.