Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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Yet another large-scale development is being planned for the Lake Wales area, this time on the city's western edge, after the proposal received approvals from the city's Planning and Zoning board Tuesday. Lake Wales Commons could host as many as 3,200 new dwelling units, along with more than a million square feet of light industrial and warehouse space on about 558 acres fronting along SR 60 West, Old Bartow Road, and West Lake Wales Road North. The sprawling collection of 26...
UPDATE: A renewed boil-water order has been lifted for homes in the Country Oaks neighborhood of Lake Wales. Testing has confirmed that no contaminants are present. A boil-water notice reappeared on front doors across the Country Oaks neighborhood on the northeast side of Lake Wales after repeated interruptions in water service. A break in a 10" water line due to contractors serving the area is the reported problem. The notice says 330 customers in the area are affected. The...
An apparent tornado spawned by a line of strong thunderstorms touched down in the Alturas area Tuesday around 5:30 p.m. Luckily the funnel struck in a rural, agricultural area and there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Witnesses traveling along the Alturas-Babson Park Cutoff Road, often referred to locally as "ABC" road, saw the funnel moving through the sky, and photos show it stirring up a cloud of condensation and debris at ground level. The funnel appeared...
Ridge cities are facing a challenging and expensive future effort to obtain water supplies for a growing population, according to officials from the Polk Regional Water Cooperative. PRWC Executive Director Eric DeHaven joined a team of engineers at a forum this week to explain the status of an ambitious project that expects to extract brackish water from a depth of more than 1,000 feet, substantially lower than the Floridan aquifer that currently supplies water to area custome...
With Florida's Primary Election day fast approaching, Polk Elections officials are reminding every voter to check their registration status. The last day to register to vote for the August 20th Statewide Primary Election is Monday, July 22nd. The Polk County Elections Office will be offering voter registration services around the county to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to register before this important deadline. Mobile registration units will be visiting multiple...
A 40-year-old Lake Wales man is dead after a kayaking trip on a local lake. A death investigation is underway following the recovery of the body of an adult male from Lake Annie, a 407-acre lake in the Waverly area of Lake Wales early this morning. Shane Park of Magnolia Street in Lake Wales had set out on the lake about 3:30 p.m. Sunday in a kayak. Weather at the time was fine, but thunderstorms began moving into the area a short time later. When he failed to return to shore...
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...
Twelve "Safe Zones" under the monitoring of the Polk County Sheriff's Office are now available to all Polk County residents for the purposes of custody exchanges of e-commerce sales, according to officials with the sheriff's office. The locations offer 24/7 continuously-monitored video surveillance with recordings retained for at least 45 days. They also provide adequate lighting and signage for safety. The Florida Legislature recently passed a law which requires count...
After a year of interim managers, Fort Meade has at last settled upon a new leader to manage city affairs, and he is arriving just in time to face a "problem" some wouldn't mind dealing with. On a 4-1 vote, city commissioners had offered the role to Edward Walker Dean last month, and his signing of the deal was reported during Tuesday's meeting of the board. His immediate challenge: trying to salvage an unused $5 million grant. Fort Meade was the only Polk County city to...
Cities across the county are seeing significant rises in property tax income, according to the preliminary tax roll published by Polk County Property Appraiser Marsha Faux. Despite the recent surge in home prices and the value of new construction, however, property values in most Ridge-area municipalities have seen only modest increases so far. The valuations have significant impacts on city budgets, since local shares of the taxes are based upon the millage rates set by...
A long-awaited audit of the operations of a business incubator funded by the city of Lake Wales using federal grant funds has turned up several shortcomings but few details, despite a long delay. The audit, which covers only the first year of operations of the incubator, operated Florida Development Corporation, was ordered by the city following the arrest of the former FDC chief financial officer Charles Young on felony fraud charges. Young was accused by his former business...
One person was killed and two injured in three-vehicle crash that left two lanes of southbound US 27 closed for approximately four hours. Northbound lanes were closed for approximately 4.5 hours. The crash took place on US 27 near Morrison Ranch Road, south of Haines City, Wednesday afternoon, at about 3:45 p.m. First responders found 64-year old Katrina Moore of Haines City deceased. Moore had not been wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from her vehicle. According to a...
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...
Thanks to an increase in rain, Polk County has repealed the active burn ban effective July 1. That permits the outdoor burning of brush in controlled circumstances, but extreme caution should still be exercised as plentiful dry vegetation remains. The Polk County Fire Chief had declared a burn ban throughout Polk County on May 28, due to dangerous fire conditions throughout the county. All of Polk County experienced an unusually dry spring, which followed a dry 2023. The...
With the July 4th Holiday just days away, AdventHealth emergency room doctors are now urging caution when handling fireworks. This comes as a new report from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) highlights the hazards posed by consumer use of fireworks. The report reveals that in 2023, it received reports of eight deaths and an estimated 9,700 injuries involving fireworks. The report also shows that between 2008 and 2023, injuries from fireworks have increased...
After a typically-slow start to the Hurricane season, things are beginning to move into an active phase in the tropics, a reminder to all that preparing for storm season should be well underway. NOAA's National Hurricane Center in Miami is alerting on the development of Hurricane Beryl in the mid-Atlantic, an unusual area for this point in the season. The storm is expected to intensify to become a major hurricane before reaching the southern Windward Islands. Long-range...
With a growing traffic volume and a significant rate of deadly crashes, a stretch of State Road 60 in eastern Polk County that is restricted to two-lanes has been a visible target of transportation planners for years. Now, tangible plans are afoot to correct the dangerous stretch of highway by widening it to four travel lanes. The project was included as a priority in the Transportation Planning Organization for Polk County. The TPO board, consisting of representatives from mu...
The boom in development of new fast-casual restaurants in Lake Wales is continuing unabated, pacing the area's fast-growing residential population. New conceptual applications have been submitted for both a Chipotle Mexican Grille and a Chick-fil-A restaurant. Pre-application meetings have been completed for both, according to city officials. Most of the newly-announced sites are clustered around the Eagle Ridge Mall on US 27 at Chalet Suzanne Road. An announced new Dunkin...
In an emotional moment during a city commission workshop Wednesday afternoon, Lake Wales City Manager James Slaton, in a halting statement, revealed that he has had a change of heart and plans to withdraw his name from contention for jobs in other cities. The moment came in the midst of a celebratory mood marking the announcement of an award of a grant of nearly $23 million to construct the "complete streets" program of the Lake Wales Connected plan. That award, by the US Depa...
A Lake Wales woman has been arrested after she allegedly intentionally drove over her husband, who was holding an infant, injuring them both on Monday afternoon. The 16-month-old child remains hospitalized with serious injuries. The incident followed a domestic argument between Aaliyah Ross, 27, of Lake Wales, and her husband, Devin Ross, 25, during which he reportedly walked out of the house carrying the child before throwing a concrete block onto her car. As the argument...
A new city effort will see the construction of about a mile of new sidewalk and the planting of scores of new street trees in Lake Wales. The long-neglected Northwest Neighborhood of Lake Wales, subject of a two-year Community Redevelopment Agency effort to improve housing, will soon benefit from an investment in new sidewalks and street trees. Residents will see some disruption as the improvements are made. The project is only the first portion of the two-phase project, City...
After a serious months-long drought that saw falling lake levels and withered lawns and shrubs, southeast Polk and the entire region are finally expecting to see the start of the normal summer monsoon rains. Forecasts are calling for as much as 2" to 3" of rain in some locations on a daily basis this week, with areas that see repeated rounds expected to incur localized flooding. A saturated atmosphere and light steering winds will lead to the development of thunderstorms...
With the threat of a "long, expensive, and distracting" lawsuit looming, the Lake Wales Charter School board will have an opportunity to reconsider their June 7 decision to summarily fire Superintendent Dr. Wayne V. Rodolfich "for cause," according to an attorney representing him. The board agreed without objection to place the issue on their July 22 agenda after hearing from attorney Kemp Brinson, who is representing Rodolfich. Brinson, in a special presentation that was the...
UPDATE: An argument between two young men who had known each other since high school near a recently-constructed county football field led to a shooting that left one dead around 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening in Lake Wales. The incident happened outside city limits near a county-owned sports park on W. Northside Drive, about 200 feet north of Washington Avenue. According to a preliminary report from Polk Sheriff's investigators, Vincent Thomas, Jr., 21, arrived in a car at a...
