Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
Sorted by date Results 1 - 16 of 16
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...
A previously-denied development proposal was turned down a second time by a 3-2 vote of the Lake Wales City Commission after the engineers and planners failed to meet the city's criteria of a "superior" residential development. Developers of the project, known simply as "Oak Development," applied for status as a Planned Development Project, or PDP, to allow sharply increased density from the underlying R-1 zoning. The PDP approval would allow the developer to define 64 lots...
Lake Wales has once again been featured in a major publication citing the pioneering planning work contained in Lake Wales Envisioned. That document, funded by the city of Lake Wales, is a comprehensive road map to a future that promises less impact from growth and a more habitable city. An article that in the online magazine Public Square says that "Lake Wales, Florida, has adopted a plan that puts active mobility at the heart of day-to-day life." Entitled "Planning a City...
The interconnectedness of the Lake Wales Ridge and surrounding public and private lands will be the focus of an online "Deep Dive" presentation Wednesday afternoon from 4:00 to 5:00 pm. Those lands are the subject of detailed study as part of the Lake Wales Envisioned planning ongoing, which will address "Olmsted's Garden City in 10, 25, and 50 Years," The in-depth discussion of the draft "Big Green" and "Little Green" land conservation and open space concepts under...
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 special presentation of the draft work completed by a team of architects, ecologists, urban and traffic planners over the course of the charrette week will be shared with the public at a special gathering at the Lake Wales Arts Center Thursday evening. The event will begin at 6:00 pm at 1099 East SR 60 (Hesperides Road) in Lake Wales. The planning effort is part of the city-funded Lake Wales Envisioned effort, designed to gather public input to determine the shape of...
Doubts about the future of Lake Wales will be met with inspiration Friday night as a special opening reception for "Charette Week" will take place downtown from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The public is invited. The casual "come-and-go event" will be hosted by the planning team of Dover, Kohl & Partners, who will share information about the busy week of hands-on planning that will shape the city's future through a project called "Lake Wales Envisioned." A charette is a small cart once...
Noted Economist Joe Minicozzi will introduce a variety of economic opportunities that are becoming available to residents, property and business owners, and city governments as a result of an approaching wave of growth in the area. Minicozzi, a partner of the Urban3 planning firm, will share the "Dollars and Sense" of good planning as a part of the ongoing Lake Wales Envisioned planning effort. Minicozzi is well-known for his economic insights into the drivers of property...
An upbeat assessment of activities during the past year and a positive look toward the future was offered by Lake Wales Mayor Jack Hilligoss at the annual "State of the City" luncheon sponsored by the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce Friday. The event drew some seventy area residents to the Performing Arts Center at The Vanguard School. In a speach running about 25 minutes Hilligoss cited the implementation of a "180" utility city area, which "establishes the footprint" of...
A host of proposed housing developments that could more than double the population of Lake Wales have created worries that the once-quiet community will be overrun by sprawling growth. In response, citizens are being encouraged to join in a process to help prevent bad outcomes. A March 20 afternoon "symposium" at Bok Tower Gardens will be a key part of a months-long project called "Lake Wales Envisioned." "Olmsted's City 10, 25, and 50 years" is a tagline for the process, and...
Citizens and residents of the Lake Wales area are being invited to take a major role in defining how and where growth will take place in the area as part of a new city effort to map future land uses and plan for future infrastructure needs. "Lake Wales Envisioned" is a year-long process that will offer multiple opportunities for Lake Wales residents to add their voices and opinions to the final product, which is expected to guide future development for 10, 25, and 50 year...
Faced with a expected wave of new development after approving more than a dozen new housing projects in less than a year, the Lake Wales City Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a new "Mobility" impact fee that will add $2,055.33 to the cost of new home in the city. Funds raised by the fee may be used for a wide variety of improvements, including sidewalks, trails, lighting, and street trees in addition to the standard road funding. Prepared by consultants NUE Urban...
A 312-acre parcel expected to host the Mayfair development nearly two decades ago is now the proposed site of a 1,020-unit project dubbed Ridgecrest. The Lake Wales City commission on Tuesday will consider the application for a preliminary subdivision plat and a special exception use permit for a residential Planned Development Project (PDP). Ridgecrest is planned to be constructed in three phases and will fill in a large blank in the city's residential areas stretching from R...
With thousands of homes coming off the drawing board and plans to build them at more than a dozen locations around Lake Wales, city planners are attempting to get ahead of the expected traffic impacts with a variety of moves. The latest proposal, which was approved by the City Commission Tuesday, is a study which will propose a "mobility fee," the new buzzword replacing traditional "traffic impact fees." The new fee will apply to each new home built in the city, assuring a poo...
A recent article in Business Facilities called Florida an "economic super-state," praising the way our state "excels at getting people, products and services anywhere." The article went on to mention Polk County in particular the Intermodal Logistics Center in Winter Haven and the miles of railroad that far outnumber those in any other county throughout the state. We are certainly proud of those distinctions, but we would be remiss to overlook how success and growth have...
Traveling by car in Central Florida in 1929 wasn't easy. In the late 1920s, many Florida roads were clay. Yet, thousands of cars full of curious people headed to Lake Wales to see the President of the United States and to see Edward Bok's Bird Sanctuary. On Feb. 1, 1929, President Calvin Coolidge dedicated the Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower, now known as Bok Tower Gardens. It was a very rare occasion to see the President in those days. To have the opportunity to...
