Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
Sorted by date Results 301 - 325 of 730
The sale of five lots owned by the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency will spur the development of new affordable housing for workers and retirees. An agreement for the sale of the five properties for a total of $34,157.00 to Florida Development Corp, Inc. (FDC) will allow the company to develop five two-bedroom rental units on the lots, located on Sessoms Avenue, D and E Streets. Although a staff report lists the units as having a single bathroom each, an attached floo...
Change is coming to Lake Wales. Are you worried? If so, your concerns are shared by thousands of your friends and neighbors. Ours is a growing community. This special place has been "discovered" by ever-larger numbers of people who would like to share in the unique qualities the city offers. As the agricultural basis of our economy is changing, so is the land use. Unproductive citrus groves decimated by disease are being offered for sale. Savvy developers are snapping up...
Lake Wales' first school building could become its newest as well if the efforts of the local Charter School Foundation are successful. They are preparing to launch a fund drive to raise $1.5 million, needed to complete the $6 million remodeling of the attractive two-story red-brick structure. "We want to take this eyesore out" to create a useful and beautiful new facility, Lake Wales Charter School System Superintendent Wayne Rodolfich told a group of 25 community leaders...
A vision of Lake Wales as a city that embraces new neighborhoods built to traditional standards while preserving vast swaths of open space was presented to an eager audience Tuesday evening by city planners who painted a clear picture of that potential. City planners Victor Dover and Eric Pate of Dover, Kohl & Partners shared the status of the several reports included in the broad Lake Wales Envisioned plan. The process was initiated by the City of Lake Wales late last year...
Lake Wales area residents concerned about future growth and development will have yet another opportunity to help shape the future of the community this Tuesday evening, July 11 at the James P. Austin Community Center. A two-hour meeting will start at 6:00 and include "a review of updated plan concepts and initial implementation strategies," according to lead planners at Dover, Kohl & Partners. The "work-in-progress" update will give citizens a chance to add their ideas and...
A 600-acre solar farm on the north side of Lake Wales containing some 170,000 to 200,000 solar panels has passed the 50% completion mark and is expected to come online before the end of the year. According to a press release issued by Tampa Electric Media Spokesperson Cherie Jacobs at the time of the application, the project will generate 74.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 11,500 homes. Jacobs noted that the project will produce no emissions and generate virt...
Crews from Gomez Construction have made substantial progress on a block of West Park Avenue between First Street and Wetmore Street. The reconstruction is part of the $11.5 million transformation of that street and, eventually, the adjoining eastern blocks and the adjacent MarketPlace. The Lake Wales Post office and adjacent businesses are being served from a parking lot accessible from Orange Avenue, one block to the north. Signage has been placed to direct traffic to the...
A new bicycle and pedestrian trail will continue the expansion of a growing network connecting neighborhoods across Lake Wales following city commission approval of an interlocal agreement with Polk County on Wednesday. Creation of a functional network of trails is a repeated recommendation contained in the Lake Wales Connected plan, cited as a significant contributor to the health and well-being of residents. The Ridge Scenic Highway Trail segment will extend 3,975 feet and...
A 300-unit "luxury" townhome development may soon provide a different option for home-buyers in Lake Wales. The complex dubbed Ridge Luxury Townhomes will include 55 new buildings to be located off Old Scenic Highway adjacent to the Duke Energy maintenance facility. Lake Caroline, a small lake just south of the nearly 30-acre site, will offer views for some units, and a community center with a proposed water feature will also be constructed. The project is one of several...
An accepted phase one final plat for a new subdivision will allow construction to begin at Harper Estates, a 67-lot development that was approved by the Lake Wales city commission last year. The first phase will consist of 29 lots. Harper Estates will lie adjacent to Orange Lake, a small body of water on the south side of Mountain Lake Road just west of US 27, near Speedway Auto Sales. The site is also adjacent to a tract of the Lake Wales Ridge National Wildlife Refuge,...
Lawyers for the city of Lake Wales are asking a circuit judge to rule that Ray Brown lied to city commissioners about his financing and progress in redeveloping the historic Walesbilt Hotel and that those fraudulent representations led commissioners to deed the hotel to him in 2011. If Circuit Judge William Sites rules for the city, it would pave the way for returning the partially renovated hotel, dating to 1926, back to the city. The city is suing Brown's company, Dixie Wale...
Fourteen new Southern Live Oaks and ten Florida Holly trees were planted last week as the latest landscaping contribution toward recreating the "City in a Garden" ideal of Lake Wales founders. Lake Wales Heritage, an Olmsted Conservancy, undertook the plantings as part of their city-wide efforts. The trees in the Druid Hills neighborhood are the latest step by the Heritage organization toward completing the landscape design of Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., who planned both the...
Access to the busy Lake Wales Care Center Thrift Store will be restricted until after the Independence Day holiday as crews from the Williams Company reconstruct curbing and resurface the parking lot at the store. The lot is connected to the Park Avenue reconstruction being performed by the contractor as part of the Lake Wales Connected project. Closure of one access point to that street and the redesign of sidewalks and curbs caused significant impact, which led to the...
Two large residential developments proposed by the same developer recently met with very different responses from the Lake Wales city commission. After unanimously approving a 930-lot single-family subdivision known as the Grove at Orchard Hills, the commission's 3-2 vote rejected a neighboring 300-unit project brought by the same developer. David Waronker of Celebration has been the developer of record for several large subdivision projects in Lake Wales, including the expans...
Nearly 100 guests joined the elated leadership of the Circle of Friends to celebrate their new campus with a ribbon cutting ceremony and reception on June 22. The longest day of the year was perhaps symbolic of the long effort of the local charitable group to achieve their dreams of a permanent home. Dedicated to supporting, teaching, and perhaps in the near future, housing permanently-disabled adults, the Circle of Friends Ministry recently relocated from their cozy downtown...
The first new development to adopt the "Traditional Neighborhood Design" principles adopted by the Lake Wales City Commission has been approved. The concept lies at the heart of the Lake Wales Envisioned plan currently under development by planning consultants. The adopted plan for the 18.66-acre site includes the mixed residential types, rear parking, sidewalks leading to nearby commercial services, a "green street," and other features advocated in the city's adopted set of...
A week of wet weather is ahead for Florida as forecast models show a strong upper-level low persisting over the area all week. Waves of strong storms are expected to propagate from the Gulf of Mexico as southwest winds draw up deep tropical moisture. Forecast models are showing as much as five inches of rain over portions of the peninsula, but local totals can vary widely. The winds 15,000 to 20,000 above the surface feet will be circling in a strong counter-clockwise spin,...
Construction is moving at a rapid pace at a new subdivision being built north of Chalet Suzanne Road. Leoma's Landing will feature 336 single-family homes in a mix of one and two-story designs. Paved streets are already in place, along with underground utilities, but without sidewalks. The surge in construction has come after years of pause on the part of the developers, who began to advance the project only last year after gaining preliminary approval several years ago....
Representatives of thirteen area charitable organizations were smiling Thursday evening as they assembled to receive grant awards resulting from the efforts of the Lake Wales Mardi Gras. The event, hosted at Wales Pointe Restaurant, saw the awarding of a total of $26,000 to the groups. The $26,000 raised and donated by the Lake Wales Mardi Gras Committee represents funds raised in donations by sponsors, vendor fees, and sales during the event. The annual charitable donations...
The conversion of the former McLaughlin Academy of Excellence, a middle school, into McLaughlin Middle/High School is moving ahead with the construction of a new gymnasium, the first of several new facilities that will be added to the school's 38-acre campus in coming months and years. The new gymnasium will serve the full line-up of athletics anticipated for the McLaughlin Phoenix teams. The 28,300 square-foot gymnasium will host a variety of athletic programs, including...
A family Father's Day celebration tragedy took the life of a 17-year-old Frostproof resident, who drowned in Lake Clinch after a boating crash. Jose Torres was reportedly the driver of a vehicle, described as "a waverunner," that tumbled out of control about 200 yards off shore just after 8:00 pm Sunday, throwing him and a passenger into the water. According to reports, the Frostproof Fire Department was notified at 8:19 pm and responded to the scene, calling local fisherman...
A new market analysis by a prestigious firm has identified a large measure of demand for Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) residences in Lake Wales and Polk County. The study indicates that there is a potential market for new housing units within new traditional neighborhoods in Lake Wales which would amount to more than ten percent of all new housing demand in Polk County. Some developers have expressed doubt that they could sell "traditional" neighborhoods here. The...
A downtown business improvement effort "focused on asset development and retail recruitment" was outlined to a large group of downtown property owners at a Wednesday luncheon. Elliott Cook of Retail Strategies told those in attendance that his purpose was to gather information from them that would be used in their efforts. Cook promised that his firm would provide owners with the tools for success. Retail Strategies was hired by city government to help recruit new business...
The outsized impact of a relatively small number of Lake Wales women continues to shape and improve the lives of Lake Wales residents. With only two dozen members, the GFWC Woman's Club of Lake Wales continues to be a dynamic contributing force within the community. Part of the international Greater Federation of Women's Clubs, the local organization has served the community for more than 100 years. Operating from their historic clubhouse and auditorium at 275 East Park...
An annual "celebration of music, community, and nature" is returning to Lake Wales for a ninth year and is expected to draw crowds of music-lovers to town for the early December festival. The Orange Blossom Revue is a two-day event featuring a lineup of top musical acts in a wide range of genres ranging from "R&B to country to folk to jazz," according to festival organizer Rusty Ingley. Ingley and Reid Hardman have been running the concert since its inception. "it was an...
