By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The residents of Great Bend asked for it, and now they are getting a new pool. Monday night, the Great Bend City Council approved a new pool concept and a $705,000 contract with engineering firm JEO to officially begin work on a new 11,047-square-foot pool to replace the current city pool at Brit Spaugh Park. JEO's Brad Shores said the plan is to have the new pool ready for the 2027 swim season.
"We are wanting to move pretty aggressively on this," he said. "We're hoping to kick off design in January 2026, and wrap up that design in July 2026, with a contractor on board in September next year. The goal is to be open for the 2027, and you're not missing any pool seasons with this timeline. That's assuming we have a good construction season from a weather perspective, and that's assuming good contractor availability. We cannot guarantee either one of those."
The total project cost is estimated at $9.155 million. The project will be paid for by the city's 0.15 percent quality of life sales tax, which generated just under $730,000 last year. The new pool will be 945 square feet smaller than the current pool, which was built in 1936. The new design will feature one-meter and three-meter diving boards, a 34-foot-tall fly-time slide, a 31-foot-tall open-body slide, ADA slides, spray features, a basketball goal, and a climbing wall. The main swimming area will consist of eight 25-meter lanes, which may be used to host competitions. Great Bend Recreation Commission Aquatics Director Megan Hammeke addressed community questions about the design of the 215-foot-long lazy river.
"Every time that body of water disappears, you have to put a lifeguard there," she said. "We would have to up our number of lifeguards who work for us in a summer by a lot to have a bigger lazy river that would go behind things. This lazy river is kind of a good honestly-meet-in-the-middle as you get of one. Lazy rivers aren't cheap. It's not an easy thing to add on."
The first designs to come before the city council included a conflict between the fly-time slide and diving boards. Given the shared area, both would not be operational at the same time. The final design includes a separate 13-foot-deep pool for the slide, and a separate 13-foot-deep area for the diving boards, so both may be operational at the same time.
The existing feature slides and shallow water area on the northeast side of the pool will remain, and will need to be gel-coated and re-painted.
Before approving the design and contract with JEO, the council approved a notice and protest period for a GO bond that will be used to pay for the pool. The 20-year term of the bond will require a payment of approximately $560,000 annually, to be paid for with quality of life sales tax funds. Monday's vote started a 30-day protest period. If five percent of electors who voted in the most recent general election file a protest petition, that could delay or prevent issuance of bonds for the project. The protest period will end Jan. 25, 2026.