By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Four wheels, friends, and some music on the Alpine. Downtown Great Bend looked a little different in 1994 than it does today; gone are the four lanes of Main Street and the cars that drove up and down the stretch between 18th and Lakin most Friday and Saturday evenings. In 1994, in an effort to curb littering in the area, Great Bend City Council passed a resolution restricting parking around the Barton County Courthouse in the overnight hours. With the Lofts at the Zarah set to open in the upcoming months, the Council repealed that 32-year-old ordinance during Monday’s meeting.
“MyTown has requested the city council remove the parking restrictions around the Courthouse Square that would allow residents of the Lofts at the Zarah to park freely,” said City Administrator Logan Burns. “Construction on the Lofts is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and currently no parking is allowed around the Courthouse Square from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.”
The ordinance restricted parking along either side of Main Street from Lakin to Broadway, and the west side of Kansas Ave. from Lakin to Broadway. The ordinance also restricted parking during those hours along the Courthouse square on Broadway and Lakin.
“I think the biggest thing we’ll have to be conscious of is a lot of the street closures we have on Lakin,” Burns said. “I think that’s working with MyTown, Zarah, along with all the other businesses there because that’s a popular spot for those street closures. I think that will make us a little more conscious as we bring those to the council for approval.”
Councilmember Davis Jimenez helped clarify that the resolution passed Monday night will remove the restrictions for anyone parking around the courthouse. The council voted 6-1 to approve the new resolution with Jimenez as the lone dissenting vote.