Hip Strip Expansion

On November 17, 2025, the Missoula City Council voted to approve a resolution expanding the Missoula Parking Commission's jurisdiction to include the Hip Strip. Continue reading to learn more about this expansion, our Parking Plan, and community engagement for this project.

Project Timeline

Hip Strip Timeline

Timeline Details

Spring 2023: Parking Study
The Hip Strip area was first evaluated as an area for expansion in 2023 during a parking study conducted with Walker Consultants. That initial engagement included an advisory committee, a technical advisory committee, inventory and initial utilization data, and 3 in-person listening events as well as an engage page survey. After that Spring kick off of engagement, we continued to work with our technical advisory and advisory committees throughout the year toward the creation of a comprehensive Parking Plan.
Spring 2024: Parking Plan draft
The draft plan was provided to MPC early in 2024 and we took that opportunity to do another round of community engagement. We posted the draft plan on our engage page, worked with our advisory committees, and attended neighborhood council events to gather feedback.
Summer 2024: Parking Plan adopted
In June of 2024, the MPC Board adopted the parking plan which included a recommendation for near-term and future expansions of the parking commission jurisdiction. The recommendation included the Hip Strip as the first area for study for expansion as well as what criteria should be met for expansion to make sense.
October 2024: Hip Strip study area mapped
Between June and October of 2024, we worked on developing mapping tools that would allow us to collect utilization data in the Hip Strip as well as post that information for the public to interact with on Engage Missoula. We started collecting Utilization data in the month of October.
Spring 2025: Neighborhood Council Meetings
After 5 months of data collection, we determined that the area does meet the criteria for expansion, so we took that data back out to the neighborhood councils in March of 2025. We shared the map and our plan to expand with the University Neighborhood Council, the Heart of Missoula Council, and the Riverfront Neighborhood Council
Fall 2025: Engagement begins
We also shared with Mountain Line, the University of Montana Parking Director, the MDA Board of Directors, the Downtown Advocacy Committee, the North Riverside Parks and Trails Committee, the Bike Ped board, and Missoula in Motion. Many of these organizations had members on our advisory committees during the initial study and we felt it was important to inform them of how the plan was being used and progressing. 
September 2025: MPC Board approved
On September 9, 2025, the MPC Board approved the resolution for expansion after reviewing the engagement conducted and criteria met.
November 2025: City Council approved
On November 17, 2025, City Council approved the resolution for expansion after reviewing the engagement conducted and criteria met.
January 2026: Enforcement begins
Enforcement will begin in January 2026 with existing signage and safety violations. Further engagement will help to inform specific implementation of management in the area.

Hip Strip Study Area

Study Area Map

The map shown here has our current jurisdiction in pink and the study area for Hip Strip expansion is outlined in teal. We collected utilization in this area starting in October 2024. Our existing jurisdiction includes the Central Business District, the residential area around the University of Montana (currently managed by the Residential Parking Permit Program), and the area west of Hilda Ave behind Hellgate Highschool (we currently enforce here for safety violations, but do not have management or paid parking). The area near Hellgate High School was included in the study area because of the need to address the competing interests of residents, high school students, and high school staff. We are aware that management of this area will shift demand patterns and expansion into a larger area allows us to manage that shift proactively.

Criteria for Expansion

Is the area contiguous with MPC's jurisdiction?  Yes. The area is adjacent to our existing jurisdiction.

Does the area have the effect of streamlining and simplifying the boundary?  Yes. Parking Enforcement Officers already drive through the area when traveling between the two separate parts of our jurisdiction.

Does occupancy exceed 75% during a typical weekday or weekend? If so, what use is occurring?  Yes. Both in the fall when high school is in session, and in the summer when school is out of session, occupancy exceeds 75%. The maps below show high occupancy blocks highlighted in red.

Is high occupancy a result of spillover parking from user groups not directly associated with the land use adjacent to each respective block face with high parking occupancy?  Yes. What we heard in public engagement is that there is spillover into the residential areas around the high school and in front of the businesses on 6th St and 5th St off of Higgins Ave. There is also spillover from the central business district employees, specifically on 3rd St right over the Bear Tracks Bridge.

Do multiple user groups "compete" for parking resources on a regular basis?  Yes. We have heard from residents that people visiting the businesses in the Hip Strip take "all the parking" in front of their homes, particularly in the evening. We also heard from Hellgate High School students, business and residents that students park "wherever they can".

Would managed parking potentially help to increase the chances that residents are able to use on-street parking in front of their places?  Yes. Permit programs coupled with time-limited parking are currently used in the Residential Parking Permit Program area to support residents in accessing the on-street parking in front of their homes. One concern we hear from residents is that construction and reconstruction parking near their homes that impacts their parking availability for sometimes months at a time. In areas of managed parking, MPC helps contractors right-size their footprint and ensures that neighbors have access to parking in front of their homes during construction projects.

Is there current or future redevelopment projects resulting in or likely to result in increased density?

Yes. As we know from the adopted land use plan, the Hip Strip area will be zoned to match Downtown, which includes no parking minimums. We expect that to allow for more developments and changes in the area. There is one known potential redevelopment project at the corner of Myrtle and 4th St that we expect to increase density in the area and increase demands for on-street parking resources.

Would benefits of managed or paid parking be reasonably likely to adequately offset the costs and/or justify the expense and effort required to implement it and conduct enforcement?  Yes. MPC currently has the staffing capacity, equipment, and budget to extend management into the area.

Is it feasible or likely that managed parking would achieve a benefit in terms of more effectively and efficiently allocating and distributing parking demand and help to increase the chances that parking is being used by those who need it most?  Yes. The goal of managed parking is to help ensure spaces are available for those who need them.

Hip Strip Oct 2024 OccupancyUtilization Data

Since October 2024, MPC has been performing utilization scans of the expansion area and the area around Hellgate High School. Both in the fall (when high school is in session) and in the summer (when school is not in session), this 75% criteria is met. These maps show high occupancy blocks highlighted in red in the months of October 2024 and June 2025. They are slightly different, but in both cases they extend for several blocks. In October 2024, there were additional areas that exceeded the 75% occupancy threshold. These are shown in purple on the map, in addition to the red areas that continued to exceed the 75% occupancy this year.

Management Strategy

Throughout all of our engagement, we have heard people express concerns that expansion means metering the entire area and that people will not be able to park in front of their homes. There is no plan to add meters to the Hip Strip at this time. 

So far what we have studied is the criteria that shows a need for expansion and management. We recognize that the Hip Strip is different from the Central Business District and parking management strategies will have to be built to fit those specific needs. Expansion will start further study of the appropriate tools and programs, and will give us the opportunity to start with enforcing safety violations and accessible parking violations in the entire area as well as enforcing the existing 2-hour signage. On Higgins in front of businesses, on 3rd street and on half a block of S 6th Street, there are currently signs for 2-hour time-limited parking. These signs are not enforced. MPC would use enforcement of these signs as a starting point to encourage turn over in front of businesses.

While enforcing what currently exists, we will have conversations with the businesses about the best ways to support their employees and where we should establish employee parking zones. We will be able to talk with developers about their parking impacts and strategies, and we will work with the high school and surrounding neighbors to develop a permit program that helps people have access to their homes and helps students have reasonably close access to the school.