Commercial Activity Center Planned at Burns Avenue, Buck Moore Road Intersection

A new convenience store "with gasoline service and outdoor display and sales" is planned for the northeast side of Lake Wales, according to a proposed site plan on the Tuesday agenda of the city's Planning and Zoning board.

Robert Connors

This view looks south from Mammoth Grove Road toward the development site on the right of Buck Moore Road. Burns Avenue is the crossing street.

The seven-member P&Z board will consider whether to recommend approval of a Special Exception Use Permit for the 3.1 acre site on the southwest corner of Burns Avenue and Buck Moore Road. The intersection is presently signalized but a long-term city-developed plan for Buck Moore Road proposes the construction of a roundabout at that crossing.

The area has already seen approval of multiple residential projects, with several sites already under development.

The vacant parcel has a future land use designation of Commercial Activity Center and was rezoned aa C-4 Neighborhood Commercial several years ago. The proposed use still requires the special exception permit in that zone. The south end of the parcel facing Buck Moore Road contains a space marked for future development.

Courtesy City of Lake Wales

The site plan that will be reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Board Tuesday depicts the fueling islands behind the convenience store, with sidewalks along the street leading to store entrances. The design is intended to encourage walk-up traffic.

The site plan for the parcel features an unusual layout in that the store is proposed to be placed closest to the intersection, with the gasoline islands under a canopy behind the store. Sidewalks along both Burns and Buck Moore Road will eventually provide pedestrian access to the store.

If the project is approved, sixteen oak trees will be removed from the site, but 35 are required for the site in addition to the mitigation, so a contribution of $2,794 is proposed to the city's tree mitigation fund to replace them. The site is just northeast of an environmental parcel, a dry lakebed known as Lake Bonnie, believed to be "meandered waters" and therefore state property.