So if there’s only 530 Parking spots does that mean they’re will only be 530 permits issued? What about students that can cannot afford the $40 a year? What if I’m a parent coming for a meeting Do I need a parking permit? What about families that come for sporting events will may need a parking permit?

I am the parent of a freshmen at Hellgate. Some students don't have access to school buses or other transportation options. Fees should not be attached to attending this school. If you do add a fee/paid permit, students who get free and reduced lunch should get their fee waived and covered by the City (not the school budget).

I am a freshman at Hellgate who has transferred in from another district, and can’t access school buses. I understand that this is a very complicated situation with many groups who deserve to be fairly considered, however, I think it is important to make sure students who cannot afford permits and need to drive for a variety of reasons are still able to access parking. There should be some form of financial aid when necessary if a permit system must be implemented. This aid should not fall on Hellgate to provide, as the school budget is strained enough as is. The city should account for students who cannot afford permits, as well as consider who truly needs them, based on circumstances including where they live, if they could take a bus, etc. Hellgate does have a significant number of district transferred students who cannot access school buses, and many face difficulties when it comes to public transport and bicycles. This being said, I do think it is important to remember that the students of this school are required by law to show up. It is unfair to essentially force many people to pay to access public education. The most important thing is that students and staff are able to continue coming to school, Hellgate itself isn’t faced with more expenses to help students who can’t afford permits and need to drive.

I work in that area and am handicapped. I would love to see some handicap parking.

Absolutely not - at no other school do they make staff and students pay for parking. This is just a way to make money off parking permits to sell to everyone with a fraction of spaces available. My son has never had an issue finding a space - sure may have to walk a few blocks but never late and never not a spot. I don’t see engagement for the apartment complexes nearby and/or Greek life housing/UM. This is a Missoula county school. A significant amount of students come in from around the county - Bonner/Clinton/Potomac. Let’s not penalize kids who have to drive to school.

Parking has always been an issue at Hellgate and has been getting worse ever year. Students and staff should NOT be punished for this!! They should NOT be charged for a parking permit either when we are already pay taxes that go towards this school!
The University students have taken over some parking since structures keep getting built on their campus that have decreased parking capacity at U of M campus, let's look at having them be a part of the solution.
While I feel for residents and agree that students should never block their driveways, this high school was there long before the majority of the tenants of local homes. It is also a public street, residents do not have priority on the street just like every other public road in this town. First come, first served!! The high school needs to take priority when coming up with a better plan for parking.
It's ridiculous to have to pay for a parking permit and they still won't even be guaranteed a spot!!

Please continue to look for ways to support student success and make it as easy as possible for students to attend class in person every day. While this includes encouraging biking, walking, and taking the bus, some students have complicated and difficult lives that don't always allow them to take these other forms of transportation. Please also look for solutions that benefit a variety of students and the variety of backgrounds they are coming from and not just those with a particular gpa or some other metric.

I'm a Hellgate parent and a nearby resident of the neighborhood.

1) The parking situation is a problem not only due to Hellgate students but also because of University student parking, including the sororities and fraternities that face Hellgate - are you engaging them in the process as well? Some have significant parking on their own property but others do not and they definitely use a lot of street parking.

2) There is some illegal parking in this neighborhood and I think enforcement could probably be more robust. I especially notice cars parked in yellow zones next to alleys which leads to unsafe turning into traffic. I also notice some vehicles parked for quite long periods without ticketing.

3) Would you consider including the following in your parking plan: (a) encouraging cycling and use of city buses and car-pooling, (b) encouraging drop-offs somewhere away from school (everyone who gets a ride does not need to be dropped off *exactly* on Gerald at the main entrance), (c) structuring some sort of staggered drop-offs so everyone doesn't arrive at the exact same time.

4) I'm a big advocate of leasing the church parking lot if possible. It is empty quite a bit of the time and seems like a great opportunity.

I'm curious why parking has become more of a problem recently. Enrollment seems about steady in the last decade or two. Did fewer students have private cars in the past?



Finally, at the end of the day, parking on the street is an extremely valuable common asset. Homeowners aren't really entitled to the space in front of their house - we all own it collectively as city residents. Parking should cost *something*. Bringing a private vehicle to a residential neighborhood and storing it all day in public space has a cost. Isn't it also a case, as with multi-lane freeways, that building more supply just increases demand? Do we really want to make it super easy for students to drive alone to Hellgate and leave their cars in the neighborhood all day, every day? I'm sympathetic but also concerned about car culture creep.

Residents should have free parking permits and signage. Reserved spots for businesses. As for students, seniors only who hold an agreed upon GPA. These seniors should have verified reasoning as to why bus transportation is not a viable option. Encourage carpooling for students when possible.

We already have regulations for the short-term parking (30 minutes?) just in front of the school that is not enforced at all and makes is very hard to get in for quick errands or drop offs.

Maybe actually enforcing the existing regulations in a way that students, staff, others can benefit from it and discourage the people who are abusing these parking spots would alleviate at least some of the current pain with the close to school-parking?

I strongly urge the Commission to reconsider the proposed requirement for paid parking permits near the high school.

This school has been an integral part of the neighborhood for over a century. It is not a new or unforeseen use, and students have been parking in the surrounding area for decades. Residents who chose to live here did so with the understanding that school-related traffic and parking are part of the neighborhood’s character. They made that choice knowing that permit parking was not in place in this immediate area, despite being implemented in nearby neighborhoods. Introducing new restrictions now, ones that disproportionately burden students and the school community, disrupts that long-standing expectation and shifts responsibility away from a shared understanding.

The proposed policy would affect far more than just students. Teachers, staff, parents, volunteers, and community members all rely on reasonable access to the school. The area most impacted, between Higgins and Hilda, and 6th and Daly, primarily serves the school, multi-family housing, and University of Montana Greek life, rather than single-family residences. In fact, there are fewer than 50 single-family homes within a nine-block radius. Many of the parking pressures in this area stem from broader changes such as increased density, smaller lot sizes, and the addition of ADUs—factors that are relatively new and evolving. In contrast, the presence of the high school is not new, nor is the parking demand it creates.

Charging for parking does not solve the underlying issue, it simply shifts and intensifies the burden on the school community. In practice, most of the parking in this area is used during the day by students and those connected to the school, while evenings and weekends remain more available for residents. This dynamic is unlikely to change with the introduction of permits.

Permit parking will not meaningfully address concerns such as congestion or improperly parked vehicles. Instead, it introduces new logistical challenges, particularly for families and individuals who rely on shared vehicles or have unpredictable schedules. It also raises practical enforcement concerns. Inevitably, students, staff, and community members will receive citations for minor or unintentional violations, leading to unnecessary strain on the municipal court system and requiring individuals to miss school or work to resolve them. This represents a significant inefficiency and a poor use of community resources.

Additionally, this policy risks displacing the problem rather than resolving it. Students and others seeking to avoid permit costs will park farther away, including in neighborhoods such as the Slant Streets that have not historically experienced this level of congestion. This shifts the burden onto other residents who did not anticipate these impacts when choosing where to live.

This proposal creates unnecessary logistical challenges and places a disproportionate and inequitable burden on this community. Rather than addressing parking concerns in a balanced and effective way, it penalizes students and those connected to the school for conditions that have long existed and are well understood.

For these reasons, I strongly encourage the Commission to reconsider this proposal and pursue alternatives that more fairly reflect the needs of the entire community.

Parking around Hellgate is already bad as it is. Adding a price tag to it does not seem to help fix the problem at all. Why make kids pretty much need to pay to be at a public school?

They better not make us pay dawg things are expensive as is🥹

Some people dont have enough money to pay a fee but the only way they can get to school is park, would you rather people park multiple blocks away and be late to school? What if some people live far away and cant arrive early to find parking blocks away and end up being late because of this, you aren't fixing the problem by making a fee it creates MORE problems by the fact of now people REALLY dont have anywhere to park because they either only have money for lunch that day and don't wanna spend it on a parking fee or maybe dont even HAVE the money. As someone who right now only has 1 dollar in their wallet AND has a job, not everyone has money to go spending on a fee. We dont have enough busses to take the amount of kids to school that will not be able to drive because of this. And not every parent can drive their kid to work, and most cant even drive their kids back home after. Making more parking is expensive but paying a fee is a temporary solution for a long lasting problem.

As a Hellgate student, the parking situation is very overwhelming. In order for students who must drive to school themselves and park their cars to be motivated to even attend school, we have to have access to parking. I feel as though students are provided with every little empathy and non students often say “there are other ways to get to school” or “its not that hard to park far away and then walk”. This is hard to hear, as sentinel and big sky students are not faced with the same inconvenience of having to worry about how they are going to get to school and on time everyday. It feels as though Hellgate students are being overlooked. This added to the stress level of an average high schooler at Hellgate creates an unprecedented level of stress, which takes a toll on the developing brains of teenagers. We hope that these factors play a roll in the decisions made regarding parking near the high school. Thank you.

Invest in a parking structure. This problem isn’t going away. Charging to park is not going to create more parking spaces.

As a parent that will have kids attending Hellgate in the near future and the rising cost of living (born and raised here and also attended Hellgate) i would love to keep parking free, no passes, no permits, no paid parking. Not all family's can afford more. Alot of us live payday to payday. There has never been great parking at Hellgate, and adding a permit or paid parking will make parking even harder or even worse.

As a driver who's parents are going to MAKE him drive to school starting next year, I'm tired of it being treated like a privilege and having to find a spot be considered just a little struggle you need to deal with if you want that privilege.

I'm not gonna take this much time out of my day to find a spot to park in a building I'm required to go to everyday. We need a student parking lot.

I am a student at Hellgate High School. I’m writing to encourage the parking commission to consider students’ needs when designing the new parking guidelines around my high school this coming year. Many students are not able to afford high parking fees, and I am encouraging consideration of free or reduced fees for students who need financial aid. My school also has a high number of students who are out of district and not able to access bus services, and must drive.
I am encouraging the continuation of affordable and accessible parking around the high school since it is an obligation to go to school, and we should not have to pay to access a public service like education. If a fee is created, I am asking that it be tailored to meet all students’ needs in a way that does not impact their ability to go to school and park once they are there. Parking is already an issue and I and many others strongly believe that this change is going to make it increasingly worse. I urge the parking commission to consider affordability and accessibility for students as they create the new parking guidelines.

While at first glance, a permit system might seem like a good idea, once you think about it, it's a bad solution to a problem created by the city in the first place. The parking around Hellgate is an issue, and always has been, but the real crux of the problem we are talking about here now is the city creating a paid parking district around a public high school. Requiring public high school students to pay for parking around their school creates an unnecessary barrier to education, and creates a system of haves and have nots. The public school has been there for much longer than any of the homeowners or businesses surrounding it. Students should not be punished because they attend the public school that is at the heart of the area in question. While $20 doesn't seem like a lot to some (well, actually $40, because what is being proposed is a $20 per semester fee), it can certainly be a lot to many of the students and families that attend Hellgate. I would wager the vast majority of students use busing, walking, biking, carpooling or getting rides to school. Parents that need to attend meetings, or otherwise engage during the school day should have easy ability to access the school, and while the idea of using the city bus system is great, it's not a solution for someone who has to take off work to go to a school meeting.

A paid parking district around the school was a terrible idea to begin with - scrap it. Keep the existing situation as is, and find a solution that actually benefits the area by making it more safe. Maybe enforce the rules that are already in place. But no solution is workable if it requires students and staff of Hellgate to pay for parking in the area around the school. If, in the end, you still want to create some sort of permit system, fine; however, students and staff at Hellgate should be given those permits for free. If you need money to fund it, that should come from the homeowners and businesses that created the problem in the first place by advocating for a paid parking district.