RATHDRUM — A long-awaited concessions and restroom facility has been completed in the Lakeland Joint School District.

Nearly two years in the making, a permanent concession stand with a heated restroom has been constructed on the north side of the Lakeland Rotary Soccer Fields, replacing portable bathrooms that would become unbearably hot on warm days and had no running water.

"Every year we'd buy two," Lakeland Activities Director Matt Neff said Oct. 29. "It's been Porta Pottis forever."

Neff said the need for a permanent facility became clear when Lakeland welcomed visiting Moscow students who had just arrived.

"When you're on a bus for two hours, the first thing kids ask when they get off is, 'Where's the restroom?'" said Neff, who was new to the activities director role at the time.

"I looked around and pointed, I said, 'Well, we have Porta Pottis over there," he said. "I remember at that point thinking, 'Really? That's what we have to offer?' It's 95 degrees. It's August. I don't want to be in a Porta Potti in August."

COVID-19 protocols were still in place and the students had nowhere to wash their hands.

"You couldn't fill a water bottle," he said. "There was no water."

Neff set out to rectify the situation, not fully aware of the undertaking that was ahead — funding, permitting, excavation and other requirements that made for a slow process.

This type of project can cost at least $120,000. However, thanks to dedicated and generous donors, it became a community-driven operation completed with donated time, work and materials. Steve Watts and Lexar Homes stepped in to make the project a reality, Neff said.

"Lexar came in and was able to consolidate everything to make it to where we could really move forward with this," Neff said. "If it was just me trying to do all of this there would probably still be a hole in the ground."

Watts, an owner and operations manager with Lexar, said his five kids went through the Lakeland School District.

"I know the guy that did the excavation and put in this parking lot, Kasey Batman. His daughter played on the soccer team, so he was big time wanting to do it," Watts said. "He was excited because we work together quite well, and we do a lot of business together."

As well as Lakeland's four high school soccer teams, parks and recreation kids will also benefit from the new facility. Neff said it's a boon for the soccer kids, who can now have concessions at their games like their football and basketball counterparts.

The new facility boasts granite countertops, cabinets for storage and a small Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible paved parking lot.

"I think the entire community will benefit from it," Neff said. "This is something that is quality and will be here for many years to come."

    Celebrations are in order for the Lakeland Joint School District, where a community-supported project to construct a new concession and restroom facility on the soccer fields has been completed. Pictured on Oct. 28, from left: Armed guard John Hatcher; Derek Haller, True Grit Roofing; Nick Haynes, Lakeland boys soccer coach; Kevin Rogge, girls soccer coach; Lakeland Activities Director Matt Neff; and Steve Watts, Ryan Swanson and Chelsea Watts, Lexar Homes.
  

    An excavation crew works on the site of a permanent restroom and concession stand on the Lakeland Rotary Soccer Fields in June. The project is now complete.