EPHRATA – Several changes to the Ephrata Sports Complex are in the planning stages in the city of Ephrata, as the Parks and Recreation Department works to accommodate increased use of the facility and encourage economic activity associated with it.  

“With the addition of middle school sports over the past few years, the middle school has used that facility for some of their events,” said City Administrator Ray Towry.

In addition to the middle school athletics events, the city is looking to improve the facility to make it a draw so that the city not only partners with the Ephrata School District, but also with other partners like athletics leagues and nearby cities that might want to co-host athletic tournaments, Towry said. As a result, the city is looking at moving the Ephrata Dog Park, currently housed in the southeast corner of the complex, over to the area near Lee Park.  

The idea, Parks and Recreation Director Josh Johnson said, is to keep the dog park near its current location while creating a contiguous space at the Ephrata Sports Complex for the community to use for athletic competitions like cross country, soccer and softball or baseball. The dog park may, in the end, be placed at one of the city’s other parks, but Lee is the likely choice so far. 

“We haven’t completely finalized where we’re moving it,” Johnson said. “But in previous meetings we’ve talked about moving it, and then we went down to Lions Park, kind of talked about that option.” 

Lions Park isn’t a good place for the facility because of the canal easement there that would force the dog park to take up too much of the main portion of the park. Looking at the Lee Park option, the city would clear more grass and shrubsteppe on the hill overlooking the park and would have a mix of flat space and hill for dogs to play on. The city would maintain separate spaces for large and small dogs, Johnson said.  

Moving the dog park is needed, Johnson said, because the current footprint of the overall sports complex is completely utilized.  

“It’s definitely a necessity that we had park staff measure the field with just our own programs that we were running,” Johson said. “I mean, there’s six yards of space up until the dog park fence that we have everything running right now. Other than that, pretty much every square inch of the sports complex is painted, and lined and used.” 

Once the dog park is removed from the facility, Towry said a variety of things would be potentially added to the park. Options include futsal and pickleball courts, paved parking on the north side of the complex and either a new concession stand or hookups for food trucks or trailers to connect to.  

The addition of paved parking will make the skate park safer for skaters as well, Towry said. Gravel can stop a skateboard suddenly and cause injuries if it’s not removed before skating. Removing the gravel surrounding the park will make it safer all around.  

Bidding to get the literal and figurative foundation for changes to the Ephrata Sports Complex done this year will happen soon, Towry said.  

“We’re in the process of getting ready to bid out. I would call it the groundwork for six pickleball courts and a futsal area-slash-basketball court,” Towry said. “Our goal is to get the groundwork done and the concrete poured this year, and then work to get a sports court coating and to cover it in the next phase to make that facility useful for more than just a couple months out of the year.”  

    The Ephrata Sports Complex offers a variety of athletic uses with enough space for tournaments. The city is looking to expand its current offerings of soccer, softball, skating and other field sports to include basketball, futsal and pickleball courts. City Administrator Ray Towry said the city has been able to improve its maintenance of the park by consulting with Ephrata School District groundskeepers to establish better maintenance schedules for the grass. The district has even loaned its aerator to the city to improve the fields’ conditions.