Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 226
Park Avenue in downtown Lake Wales has become one of the "coolest" places around with the opening of yet another ice cream parlor. The Pink Flamingo is the third location where residents and visitors can grab a frozen treat. The new shop, located within the Arcade at 230 East Park Avenue, is the project of Lynette and Gene Hofferber. The couple are recent arrivals, having moved to the city from Nebraska in the footsteps of their daughter, Brittany Gregg, who fell in love with...
A new high-tech three-dimensional laser scanner is promising to speed traffic investigations being conducted by the Lake Wales Police Department, assuring quicker re-openings of intersections and crash sites after incidents. The new $63,969.42 laser scanner will be used to help investigate major crime scenes and traffic crashes resulting in serious bodily injury or death, enabling one officer to map out millions of geographic measurement points in under an hour, rather than...
The long-awaited opening on a second stretch of a reconstructed Park Avenue in downtown Lake Wales is a reality after construction crews removed barriers, allowing traffic to flow on the newly-bricked street. Along with the new travel surface comes a lush new landscape of oaks and ornamental plantings and new wider sidewalks designed to accommodate sidewalk dining. Still to come are new streetlights to create the proper evening ambiance. Merchants have struggled during the...
The Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency board Tuesday rejected a proposal to reconsider higher-density development at a site near Lake Alta Park. Area residents had battled a previous plan for months earlier this year. City Commissioners, sitting in their roles as the CRA board, voted 4-1 against the concept, brought before the board by Chairman Robin Gibson. Gibson made a lengthy pitch to fellow commissioners to draw support but came up empty. The concept plan would...
A proposal to spend $565,000 to re-purchase the 1.44 acre Lake Alta property the Community Redevelopment Agency previously sold for less than $9,000 will be considered at Tuesday's meeting of the board. The City of Lake Wales, seeking to dispose of unused lands, had transferred the remnant parcel, part of a larger city-owned site containing tiny Lake Alta park, to the CRA in 2015. The CRA sold it through an offering that brought only one bid from Harout "Henry" Kebabjian and...
A new road closure will require long detours for yet more motorists in eastern Polk County, while other projects extend well beyond their announced completions. Drainage upgrades will close Timberlane Road just south of the intersection with Canal Road northeast of Lake Wales beginning Thursday, August 8. The work is scheduled to take two weeks. The cross drains beneath the roadway leading to Lake Pierce are being replaced ahead of a county project to resurface Timberlane...
Highway 60 was blocked west of Lake Wales for about five hours Friday night after a vehicle crossed the median and was struck by an oncoming truck. A Lake Placid woman lost her life in the tragedy. According to investigators from the Polk County Sheriff's office, at about 8:19 p.m., 32-year old Nakeyma Williams of Lake Placid was driving a 2011 Toyota Camry westbound when she apparently lost control of her vehicle, which slid into the eastbound lanes where it was struck...
The closure of SR 17 (Scenic Highway) at Hillcrest Avenue, originally announced as a 30-day project, is expected to continue well after the beginning of the school year, forcing additional traffic onto South 4th Street past McLaughlin Middle-High School. Crews closed Scenic Highway from Grove Avenue to Hillcrest Avenue in June to begin installing new drainage structures. Sidewalks in the area are also detoured. According to the Florida Department of Transportation, the...
A long-vacant space in the Orange Grove Shopping Center in Lake Wales will soon be home to a large new Ollie's store amid a burst of new residential development in the area. Ollie's is a discount department store with 521 locations, and more opening this month in other states. There are several locations in central Florida, including one adjacent to the Lakeland Square Mall. Other nearby Ollie's locations include Avon Park and Kissimmee. Ollie's stores feature more than 20 sep...
A happy city staff, as well as grant consultants Lee Hale and Hilary Waers of Hale innovation, were celebrating before, during, and after the city commission workshop Wednesday. In a room decorated with balloons, City Manager James Slaton made the happy announcement that the city had received a grant award of $22.93 million from the US Department of Transportation. The RAISE grant for "Complete Streets" will assure the completion of the Lake Wales Connected plan, a...
The community-developed Lake Wales Envisioned plan continues to receive accolades from organizations both in Florida and around the nation. In the latest announcement about the program, Lake Wales Envisioned has been chosen by the Florida Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA FL) for its premier honor, the Award of Excellence. Envisioned also won an award from the Florida Planning & Zoning Association earlier this month. The new award follows closely the...
A busy stretch of South Scenic Highway in Lake Wales will be closed for at least 30 days beginning Monday, June 17 between Winston Avenue and Alvina Avenue, a distance of about four blocks. Florida Department of Transportation crews have closed Scenic Highway from Grove Avenue to Hillcrest Avenue. The closure will require a detour for motorists using the roadway, routing traffic along South 4th Street to avoid construction. The Florida Department of Transportation will be...
A very serious crash blocked SR 60 in both directions only a half-mile west of US 27 Saturday afternon, causing a massive backup for both east and west-bound traffic. UPDATE: All lanes of SR 60 were cleared by 3:30 p.m., allowing normal traffic to resume. The 1:48 p.m. incident drew nearly a dozen emergency vehicles and nearly a score of personnel to the scene to redirect traffic. Although no official word has been released, it was apparent that at least one vehicle had been...
A traffic crash with a loaded dump truck took the life of a local woman Tuesday afternoon in an unincorporated area of Lake Wales. Polk deputies and Polk Fire Rescue responded to the emergency call around 2:30 p.m. from the rural intersection of Canal Road and Lake Mabel Loop Road. They found one person deceased at the scene. Minerva Cruz, 79, of Lake Wales, was the driver of a 2011 Silver Toyota Yaris that apparently entered the path of a 2020 Kenworth dump truck loaded with...
A new Park Avenue is steadily emerging in downtown Lake Wales as work continues on the first phase of a multi-million dollar reimagining of the city's heart. The ongoing work is creating a shady pedestrian oasis in the heart of the city, replete with rows of spreading live oaks, new benches, lighting, wider sidewalks, and brick-paved streets and parking areas. The stretch of Park Avenue between First and Market streets is rapidly nearing completion, offering business owners an...
Development of new roads and utilities will be behind a lengthy disruption to traffic in an area between Dundee and Lake Wales, according to county officials. Starting Wednesday, May1, installation of a water main for a new subdivision and related road reconstruction will close H.L. Smith Road just north of the Lake Mabel Loop Road intersection for 10 weeks. Traffic will be briefly detoured along Lake Swan Road or Lake Mabel Loop Road to Lake Trask Road to bypass work zone....
Lake Wales Municipal Airport was among stops on a multi-county tour hosted by the Central Florida Regional Planning Council for Florida's Secretary of Commerce Alex Kelly. The multi-county tour was conducted in partnership with cities, counties, and economic development partners over two days on April 8th and 9th. The visit aimed to showcase rural communities, aviation, and the work of the many economic development agencies in the region. Lake Wales City Manager James Slaton...
A proposal that some city commissioners and staff saw as the best opportunity so far to implement the Lake Wales Envisioned plan died Tuesday night on a 3-2 vote. The concept of a 24-unit single-family community on a 1.46 acre parcel generated intense opposition from residents of the neighborhood, located around the 3.566 acre Lake Alta Park. Commissioners received a letter signed by two dozen of them asking that the proposal be denied, and multiple speakers had criticized the...
A grant application for the "Complete Streets redesign of remaining portions of 1st Street, Central Avenue, and Lincoln Avenue" has been given a high probability of success by a grant consultant working for the City of Lake Wales. The application seeks 100 percent funding for the redesign and reconstruction of most of First Street North, Lincoln Avenue, and single blocks of Central Avenue and A Street. The total project costs included in the application are $22,930,000, which...
A 14-person attempt at formation skydiving in Lake Wales Monday afternoon left two skydivers with life-threatening injuries. Witnesses said that at least one parachute appeared to become tangled and failed to fully open. Two women in the group made hard landings, sustaining injuries that required them to be airlifted to a trauma center. According to witnesses, one skydiver came down at the intersection of North Scenic Highway and Wiltshire Avenue. Witnesses immediately began...
Three challengers seeking two seat on the Lake Wales City Commission held the stage at a Monday evening candidates forum after both incumbents failed to show up for the 90-minute event. The election is four weeks away, slated for Tuesday, April 2. Carol Gillespie, seeking seat 4 on the five-person commission, along with Brandon Alvarado and Crystal Higbee, both seeking seat 2, shared their ideas and responded to questions from the audience at the forum sponsored by the...
A Lake Wales woman is in custody after a horrific accident on Saturday morning resulted in the death of a passenger in her vehicle. After what police described as "a very active and ongoing traffic homicide investigation," the Lake Wales Police Department obtained an arrest warrant for Jeanette Gonzalez of Lake Wales for DUI Manslaughter. The crash took place on U.S. Highway 27, in front of Weikert Ford, where officers found 38-year-old Eliecer Padilla of Lake Wales deceased...
A development proposal adjacent to Lake Alta on the near north side of Lake Wales has been modified by the developer in an apparent attempt to reach a compromise with neighboring residents. Growth Management Division Director Autumn Cochella attended a Community Redevelopment Agency meeting this week to explain to commissioners that developer J. Walter Homes will bring a new proposal back to the city's Planning and Zoning Board at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 27, calling...
Music and entertainment fans will welcome the news of a sensational series of free Friday night concerts that promise to infuse the community with camaraderie, live music, and entertainment. The series is planned for Orange Avenue in the heart of Downtown Lake Wales. The new Friday Night Live series is a collaboration of the Lake Wales Arts Council with the City of Lake Wales and Lake Wales Main Street. The Arts Council "is delighted to unveil the much-anticipated Lake Wales...
While the ribbon-cutting and dedication of the newly reconstructed portions of Park Avenue and First Street remains in the planning stage, the newly-completed stretches of West Park Avenue and North First Street are now open to two-way traffic. The opening comes concurrent with the closure of the eastern portion of Park Avenue, a situation expected to last most of the year as the pavement is removed, utilities upgraded, and new sidewalks and brick streets are installed. Shoppe...
