By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
With a $1.37 million project in the 2022 winter, the Great Bend Sports
Complex received artificial turf on the five baseball and softball infields.
While Langrehr Field is nearby to the northeast of the facility, it is separate
from the four-field complex. Improvements have been made, but an issue with the division of Langrehr from the rest
of the complex for years has been the lack of a restroom near the field.
Spectators currently have to walk back to the main sports complex to access a
restroom.
Great Bend Interim City Administrator Logan Burns said a quality of life
project intends to place a bathroom near the ballfield on 2nd
Street, where the sewer and water utilities are located.
"We also considered an all-concrete bathroom," said Burns. "You bring it in and set it, then you have your plumbing there. It double ups as a storm shelter. We've thought about this avenue for other projects too like Heizer Park and the Bypass Park."
Parking is limited already at Langrehr, but the restroom would possibly need to be located
in the parking lot as the property line is on the east edge of the lot.
Great Bend is also considering negotiating to purchase a portion of the land to
the east and putting the bathroom facility there and creating more parking.
There is $200,000 allocated for the Langrehr Field bathroom project from the .15%
quality of life sales tax fund. The project is scheduled for 2025.