Residents of the Raiders Village subdivision near the Mount Helena trailhead came before the Helena City Commission with urgent accounts of what they described as an escalating public safety problem that has gone unaddressed for two years. Cam Rigg, of 21 Carriage Lane, told commissioners that groups of up to 20 vehicles regularly gather at night and use neighborhood roads as a racetrack. He said four serious vehicle incidents occurred in a four-month span, including a car that was shoved into a tree in front of his house. A sawed-off shotgun was later found in a neighbor's window well, allegedly left by the driver, who had an active warrant.

Aaron Haffy, of 32 Carriage Lane, corroborated the account, describing three separate incidents of vehicles leaving the road and going into a ravine near the trailhead, as well as fights and gunfire heard in the middle of the night. Both residents said Helena Police rarely arrive in time to make arrests given how remote the location is. Haffy added that existing no-camping signs are routinely disregarded, with vehicles overnighting at the site on a regular basis.

Both Rigg and Haffy were careful to say they are not committed to any particular solution, including a parking restriction ordinance — they said they simply want the city to act after repeated requests over two years. The commission directed parks staff and the Helena Police Department to continue working together on a targeted enforcement approach that addresses dangerous behavior without cutting off legitimate trail access. A road closure on Carriage Lane for an ARPA-funded water infrastructure project — already scheduled to begin around March 25 — adds a separate complication for the same neighborhood in the coming weeks.