4-minute read
Lakeland commissioners closed out 2025 with a marathon meeting — Mayor Bill Mutz and Commissioner Bill Read’s last — that clocked in at 7 hours, 24 minutes.
End-of-year agendas aren’t usually long, but Mutz said he wanted to wrap up as many projects as possible before passing the gavel to Mayor-elect Sara Roberts McCarley on Jan. 5.
Commission hits the brakes on stormwater rate hike
The Commission voted 6-0 to reject a proposed stormwater rate increase.
The five-year, phased increase was intended to fund almost $70 million in overdue flood prevention and surface water quality projects. But several commissioners said they were swayed by the Lakeland Economic Development Council’s arguments that the original structure put too much of the burden on businesses instead of residential customers.
“After hearing from businesses such as Publix and Saddle Creek, and even Bonnet Springs Park on Friday, how that would impact them, I’d really like to send it back to staff with a sense of urgency,” Commissioner Chad McLeod said.
“We know there is a tremendous need that needs to be solved,” McLeod said. “But I would like to take that extra time and just make sure that we have fully exhausted all of those different options and potential solutions, particularly as it relates to the commercial customers.”
What’s next: A revised proposal will likely come before the Commission on Jan. 20. If adopted, the first phase of the rate increase would take effect in March or April.
Wedgewood changes approved, but concerns about maintenance and drainage remain
Commissioners voted 5-1 to amend zoning for the former Wedgewood Golf Course, swapping many of the apartments for townhomes and adding a second access point for drivers.
The approval followed almost three hours of discussion during which 15 area residents expressed concerns about traffic, drainage, landscape maintenance, building heights and property values. Commissioner Guy LaLonde Jr. dissented.
Scott House, owner of SJD Development, said many of the problems pre-dated his acquisition of the property in 2021 and can only be solved with “lots of excavation” when construction begins. But he acknowledged that he should have hired a professional landscape group sooner.
“I want to give my commitment to the city, to the neighbors, that we will intensify our landscaping and we will make sure that the culverts and all the water management that we can control with the ponds and so on, we will take care of it going forward for sure,” House said.
What’s next: Work cannot begin until the Commission approves a development agreement, which is expected to have a first hearing on Jan. 5 and come up for a vote on Jan. 20.
$9.2 million pedestrian bridge axed months before construction was set to start
After more than 15 years of planning — and just months before work was set to begin — Lakeland commissioners voted to halt plans for a $9.2 million pedestrian bridge over the CSX railroad tracks at New York Avenue.
City Attorney Palmer Davis said the bridge was among many rail-related projects stripped of funding when state lawmakers approved House Bill 7031 during the 2025 Legislative Session.
The steel truss overpass would have linked Lake Wire with the three-block New York Avenue cycle track, providing continuous pedestrian and bicycle access to downtown and the RP Funding Center.
What’s next: Commissioners said they’ll press to get the bridge and other Polk County projects put back into the Florida Department of Transportation work program as soon as possible.
Commission endorses Tradeport Boulevard for new I-4 crossing in north Lakeland
Lakeland commissioners voted unanimously to support the Florida Department of Transportation’s recommendation of Tradeport Boulevard for a new interstate crossing in north Lakeland.
Now comes the harder part: finding the money to build it.
FDOT considered five possible routes before proposing that Tradeport Boulevard be extended 1.5 miles from behind the Bridgewater neighborhood, across Interstate 4 to connect with Walt Williams Road just south of Wendell Watson Elementary.
The plan calls for a two-lane road with no median, and a 10-foot shared-use path for cyclists and pedestrians. Truck traffic would be prohibited.
What’s next: The project is listed as partially funded in the Polk Transportation Planning Organization’s Envision 2050 long-range plan. The next major step will be a required Project Development and Environmental (PD&E) study.
Next meeting will be at RP Funding Center
The Commission’s next meeting will be on Jan. 5 at the RP Funding Center, 701 W. Lime St.
The first part of the meeting, from 9 a.m. until about 10:30 a.m., will be largely ceremonial with speeches and swearing-in proceedings before an audience of family and friends.
The second part will proceed with McCarley at the helm and new Commissioners Ashley Troutman and Terry Coney on board.
latest news
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.