The heat was on at a community meeting sharing the results of a survey done in the neighborhood around Flathead High School.

The survey’s purpose was to find out what concerns Flathead High’s neighbors might have and ways the school could improve its relationship with its neighbors.

More than 30 people turned out for the meeting facilitated by Tom Jentz, city planning and building director. Principal Pete Fusaro and a few high school staff were also in attendance.

The meeting started cordially, with introductions that included what streets people lived on and how long they have lived in the neighborhood. 

The city mailed 279 surveys to property owners covering 95 acres around the high school. Just 68 of those surveys were returned to the city — but in that area, 46 percent of properties are rentals, a higher percentage than other parts of Kalispell.

Thirty residents who completed surveys offered to volunteer on a committee focused on tackling neighborhood concerns. The top five concerns were trash, parking, smoking, speeding/unsafe drivers and vandalism/thefts.

The survey was issued after a group of residents submitted a petition to the city.

“We, in that first little committee meeting, could have solved two or three issues,” Jentz said. “We could have solved them for two or three months, but this is a long-term thing. It was important to reach out to the neighborhood all around. To have a solution, you really need to come together.”

Jentz outlined the meeting’s purpose: stick to agenda that included prioritizing a project and discussing the creation of an advisory committee.

“We have felt your emotions and concerns here [in survey comments] this is a ‘how do we move forward’ meeting,” Jentz said.

“If we brought the neighborhood together, what kind of thing could they be involved in? A lot of people don’t think in those terms. This is where we begin to problem-solve.”

Despite his plea, a venting session proved unavoidable.

Comments quickly turned to students and staff parking in residential neighborhoods — a decades-long and emotionally charged concern to many residents living around Flathead High School. Those complaints effectively put the brakes on detailing Jentz’s planned discussion about forming an advisory committee, although the group did set up another meeting for May 2.

One resident said he saw the problem — parking — and an immediate solution: Implement residential permit parking zones. Doing so would solve the other issues, he said, a statement that drew applause from the crowd.

Resident Barbara Domgard added, “This has been going on for 40 years. I’m not kidding. We’ve done everything, closed campus, open campus. Nothing has worked, so we need to do something now.”

Jentz tried to put this in perspective.

“All issues are important. To say my issue is most important minimalizes others,” Jentz said.

Resident Laura Khor commented along similar lines: “We’re all here to move forward. What are different priorities for some people may not be the same priority for others.”

Jentz said a structure needed to be in place.

“See the city staff up here. We’re going to be fading away out of this process fairly soon,” he said. “To get things going, we felt it was important to be up here and getting a structure set up to start addressing these issues. Every one of these issues needs to be resolved. We need a process.”

To which some residents commented that they assumed the city would have a process laid out and that it was the city’s responsibility to make sure streets were clean and safe. One woman said she was tired of feeling like a hostage in her home between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. because she couldn’t find a parking spot within a block of her house.

Jentz said the high school is willing partner in finding solutions to the various issues addressed in the survey.

He said his suggestion was to work toward solving the trash problem first. Fusaro said the school has implemented garbage pickup on Tuesdays and Thursdays and is working with the student council to implement a media campaign to “Pick it Up Flathead,” which is set to begin next week. Other ideas include handing out fines and loss of lunch privileges.

“Going up and picking up trash is a Band-Aid,” Fusaro said, noting that administrators have to instill respect and get the body of about 1,500 students to pick up after themselves. “We hear your concerns.”

Resident Karlene Khor commented, “If that’s something we can get a small victory on — trash — that can help us solve bigger issues.”

Allison Rold has lived in her home in the high school neighborhood for 23 years and was hoping more would come from the meeting.

“I wanted to learn what ideas he [Jentz] had to move forward. Creating a committee is perfect, but with everybody venting we never got that far,” Rold said. “That’s what I was here for.”

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.