Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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In nothing less than a transformation, the formerly dreary stretch of Park Avenue west of First Street is swiftly becoming an attractive green oasis intended to help draw pedestrian traffic to the heart of Lake Wales. The three-block-long stretch of the street west of Scenic Highway is the heart of the $20 million investment being made by the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency to reinvigorate the city's urban core. Conceived as "Lake Wales Connected" by a team of...
A CRA grant will help a local not-for-profit save an aging historic building that serves as an important civic space in downtown Lake Wales. The Lake Wales Woman's Club was awarded a $50,000 grant that will help the 100-year-old organization pay for a new roof for their auditorium at 275 East Park Avenue. The funds will also help remediate mold, according to CRA staff. The grant meets three of the goals cited in the Lake Wales Connected plan recommendations, Assistant City...
The deadline for entering a float in the Lake Wales Christmas night parade is fast approaching, according to members of the sponsoring Rotary on the Ridge. Those interested in being a part of the event have until November 30 to send in their entry forms. The theme of this year's procession is "Toys on Parade," and numerous entries are expected to feature toys, some on a gigantic scale. The parade will follow a modified route through the city this year after lining up at Polk...
A newly-renovated Family Recreation Center is now open to the public with a full line-up of new equipment and freshened facilities. A ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by city officials welcomed the first crowd of enthusiasts on Saturday. The newly-refreshed building features new vinyl plank flooring flooring in the entry, lobby, rear hallway, childcare area, and the Turner Center meeting room. Those same areas have been freshly painted, along with walls in restroom and shower...
Even as the Lake Wales area enjoys pleasant and mild weather, it's important to keep a weather-eye out for late-developing tropical storms and hurricanes that could threaten to disrupt our idyllic autumn days. Now two long-range models are depicting just such a potential. Hurricane season runs through November 30, and there have been occasional storms that have developed even after that date. The unusually-warm water in the Atlantic basin, coupled with unseasonable warmth,...
New life is being breathed into a significant building in the historic center of Lake Wales after actions taken by the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency on Tuesday. The city commission, sitting as the CRA board, also agreed to a new loan program to help local investors fund the renovation of five downtown retail units. "This is new, this is the first one," CRA Executive Director James Slayton said of the $100,000 loan toward a First Street property owned by Tammy and S...
A major resurfacing project is expected to disrupt traffic flow on US 27 during the coming months as contractors undertake improvements to about seven miles of the six-lane thoroughfare stretching from Waverly Road in Lake Wales north to Kokomo Road in Lake Hamilton. According to the Florida Department of Transportation, the project involves removing and replacing the asphalt roadway surface, as well as reworking shoulders. The project also includes widening and adding a new...
In the high-energy future facing Lake Wales there's little doubt that high-energy management is required to keep up. As Lake Wales faces a wave of growth, with about 15,000 new residences planned to be built here in the next several years, Assistant City Manager Deena Drumgo may be the ideal person to help the city face the challenges ahead. Drumgo, the former city manager of Dundee, came to Lake Wales from Winter Haven, where she oversaw that city's community redevelopment ag...
Major improvements are underway at the Lake Wales History Museum that are expected to make the facility a center of community activity as well as a draw for residents and visitors alike, according to Executive Director Melissa Stoller. The ongoing project includes needed repairs to the 98-year-old building as well as reimagined and refreshed exhibits. The non-profit museum is seeking volunteers with carpentry skills to help with the ongoing reconfiguration. Stoller promises...
A new "circulator" bus route that will serve the city six days a week on a frequent schedule began this week, making getting around town without a car a much simpler task. Lake Wales should be very proud of the new service, according to Tom Phillips, executive director of Citrus Connection, which operates the buses. "This is only the second city [in Polk County] to have a real circulator route," he told Lake Wales News.net. The circulator will stay within the city limits,...
In a major step toward addressing the challenge presented by an enormous wave of growth, the Lake Wales city commission voted to adopt a resolution in support of the Lake Wales Envisioned plan. Facing development proposals that would readily triple the population of the city, the board had agreed to fund the planning study in January, leading to months of effort by planners, residents, and city staff. The project included numerous public meetings, open workshops, webinars,...
It's time to start digging out the jackets and sweaters. The long-awaited seasonal cooldown after the end of an exceptionally hot summer will arrive in earnest next week after the passage of a series of reinforcing cold fronts. Heavy rains are expected over Florida beginning Wednesday night, and rain will linger for several days before a series of fronts sweeps in a colder air mass that will leave morning lows in the 50's for the Lake Wales Ridge area. The potential for...
The vast Peace Crossing development long-planned for a large tract of land between US 27 and Lake Ashton is now moving forward under new ownership following the sale of the property by Winter Haven Corporation. The 1,943-acre Master Development Plan (MDP) Lake Wales Mixed Use Project was approved by the city commission in 2021. The site has long been used as pasture and consists of a mix of uplands and wetland areas spanning the Peace Creek Drainage Canal. With 6100...
The multi-million-dollar reconstruction of Park Avenue is proceeding close to schedule, as evidenced by the hard-working crews who have been seen laying the thousands of bricks that will eventually form the surface of the new street and parking spaces. The new high-quality clay-brick pavers were selected as the most durable and traditional surface for the project after a study by engineers and architects involved in the design of the project, an early phase of the multi-phase...
The nearly five-year, The $45 million construction project to reconstruct the intersection of US 27 and SR 60 in Lake Wales is progressing as crews prepare to resurface a stretch of West Central Avenue that has been disrupted during the process. Motorists should expect a northbound lane closure on US 27 near Central Avenue, according the the Florida Department of Transportation and the general contractor The massive project to rebuild the former obsolete bridge and...
Local fitness buffs may be well advised to skip the outdoor routines today due to the unhealthy levels of particulate matter in the air. The cloud of smoke which has drifted south from Canada has cast a gray pall over most of the state. It's the result of smoke from the vast wildfires which have devastated forests in what would normally be the chilly north woods. According to AQCIN.org, which monitors air quality globally, the air over Florida is rated as "unhealthy," with...
New details are slowly emerging after the huge pileup crash Thursday evening at the intersection of US 27 and Chalet Suzanne Road in Lake Wales. "Several people were injured" in the crash, according to police, with at least one with injuries described as "life-threatening." The intersection remained closed for several hours as investigators and emergency medical personnel worked the scene. According to investigators and eyewitness accounts, a Chrysler 300 attempted to make a...
Pathways leading to college or directly to highly-paid careers are open to students at Lake Wales High School thanks to the seven "Career Academies" offered at the school. Assistant Principal Jasmine Ansley heads the career academy program and was happy to report that 1,039 of the school's students are now enrolled in one of the pathways. The program helps keep students engaged in what they like to do at school, resulting in a lower drop rate, she said. A recent special...
As the City of Lake Wales faces an onslaught of development proposals totaling more than 14,000 residential units, a responsive city government is making the needed adjustments to meet the challenge. Veteran planner Brian Herrmann has recently been hired to head the city's Growth Management division, a department formerly known as "Development Services." The department name change is reflection of the determination of city leadership to cope and direct the unstoppable pressure...
Lake Wales Charter School Superintendent Dr. Wayne Rodolfich has announced the appointment of April Barnhardt to become the new principal of Edward Bok Academy South. The appointment was confirmed by the Charter School board. Barnhardt has for the past two years served as the assistant principal of Hillcrest Elementary School, one of several local schools she attended as a child. She will take over the role from Dr. Julio Acevedo, who has served on a temporary basis the...
On a split vote, Polk County Commissioners refused to overturn the narrow approval of a sprawling development on a rural two-lane road in eastern Polk County about ten miles northeast of Lake Wales. The Creek Ranch development required the approval of a binding site plan for the 1,289 acres of rural land to accommodate 1,876 homes plus commercial uses off Hatchineha Road. The site is mostly surrounded by conservation lands and lies north of Lake Pierce and east of Dundee. The...
An early-autumn bout of very soggy weather has left the Lake Wales Ridge area with as much as nine inches of rain in some locations, raising lake levels and saturating marshes. Now long-range models are beginning to depict a weather pattern favorable to tropical storm development in the western Caribbean. The wet weather has generally been welcomed across central Florida after a drier-than-normal year, and the various models are in agreement that the pattern will remain in...
Lake Wales will become a healthier city if traditional neighborhood design standards are applied to future development proposals here, according to studies shared by Dr. Joanna Lombard of the University of Miami. Lombard, who has dual appointments to the university's medical school and the school of architecture, was the lead panelist on a webinar hosted this week by 1000 Friends of Florida to discuss the health and wellness impacts of where we live. The significant increases...
The City of Lake Wales plans to spend nearly $80,000 on renovations of the former Family YMCA on Burns Avenue as it steps into control of operations there. The facility is being rebranded as the Lake Wales Family Recreation Center. After purchasing the facility in February 2020 for $900,000, the city had entered into an agreement with the West Central Florida YMCA to operate the center. The 25,790-square-foot recreation facility and swimming pool on 9.45 acres of property was...
Owners of the rapidly-growing number of electric vehicles in the Lake Wales area, as well as travelers passing through the city on SR 60, will be pleased to find four new electric vehicle chargers in a handy location. A project of AdventHealth Lake Wales Medical Center and Duke Energy EV Division, the chargers have been installed in the hospital parking lot immediately behind the Lake Wales Arts Center at 1099 SR 60 East. They are readily accessible from 11th Street. A large...
