Business View Civil & Municipal Apr-2023

133 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 4 Center which offers educational displays and programming. Surrounding this is a park with picnic shelters and tables, as well as amenities for skateboarding, BMX biking, basketball and tennis courts, a softball diamond, and horseshoe pits. Burns recounts, “The Brit Spaugh Park project will not only bring pickleball courts, basketball courts, and mini soccer courts, but we will be adding more playgrounds equipment. It will have a lot of features for families to enjoy.” The city is also home to the SRCA Dragstrip, a racetrack that attracts spectators and competitors from across the U.S. A multi-million dollar master plan to expand the Great Bend Sports Complex is also in the works, another exciting project for the city. Burns says, “We put out a survey to our residents and asked them what they wanted to see in our community. We took those results, and created a plan. We want GREAT BEND, KANSAS to make sure that we are utilizing the taxpayers’ dollars to create positive change, not sitting on their dollar, but actually doing something with it.” With A point-one percent sales tax initiative passed in 2022, Great Bend will continue to invest in recreation and quality-of-life projects, with an emphasis on getting people outside again. “Our town was built on ag and oil, and as we continue to develop outdoor amenities, we keep that heritage in mind to create outdoor offerings that cater to the hunting and outdoor recreation culture that stemmed from our ag and oil background,” Arnberger asserts. Like many rural communities, housing needs are in the spotlight. “We are in a place in our community where we are burgeoning with growth in the business sector, and we’ve got to be able to back that up with available, quality housing,” Arnberger admits. Groups such as the Housing Opportunities Group (HOI), help to ensure