43° CLEAR, Polk Buying Site for Sports, Tourism Marketing
Panel agrees to pay $3.5 mil. for land near Auburndale sports complex.
Last Modified: Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 7:50 a.m.
BARTOW | County commissioners agreed Wednesday to spend $3.5 million to buy nearly 9 acres at Lake Myrtle and Berkley roads as the location for the county's Tourism and Sports Marketing office.
Agreed to spend $2.2 million to fund a deep well in southeast Polk as part of the pursuit of alternative water supplies to comply with water permit regulations.
Agreed to spend $6.7 million to complete wells and a water plant at Providence near County Road 54 and U.S. 17-92.
Voted 4-1, with Commissioner Jean Reed dissenting, to approve a growth map amendment for a nine-acre site near the intersection of State Road 60 and Rifle Range Road from agricultural and rural residential to commercial.
Approved an amended agreement with the Polk Commerce Centre CRA to extend the agreement until 2016 to give the CRA time to replay a loan from the county.
Approved a water-allocation ordinance for the Four Corners area that sets percentages of the available water that will go to residential and non-residential development.
Approved an addendum on the Port Hatchineha purchase agreement to cover the cost of cleaning up contaminated soil.
Reappointed Ellis Hunt Jr. and Sue G. Nelson to the Polk County Planning Commission.
Set hearings for July 23 at 1:30 p.m for adoption of a Polk County property maintenance ordinance and major modification of the Ringling Bros. elephant facility on Old Grade Road.
Approved a $350,000 agreement between Polk County and the Winter Haven Housing Authority for rehabilitation of public housing units on Lake Deer.
Agreed to spend $5,000 to support the Florida Association of Counties' efforts to challenge the legality of state funding mandates on regional conflict counsel.
Appointed Stacy Hackworth, Richard Bryant, Michael C. Wilkerson, Werner Von Pein and Ed Latsinger to the Workforce Development Board.
Appointed Juan Aviles to the Community Relations Advisory Board.
Appointed Theron Stangry to the Industrial Development Authority.
Proclaimed July as Lakes Appreciation Month.
Recognized 45 graduates of the 2008 Polk County Water School.
Recognized Fleet Management Division for receiving its Sixth ASE Blue Seal of Excellence Award.
Reappointed Doug Thomas and Jim Studiale to the Harden/Parkway CRA Board.
Recognized Budget and Management Services for receiving the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association.
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The property is adjacent to a planned major sports complex on Auburndale's west side.
The land will be purchased from Block L LLC, whose principals are John Strang and Carl Strang III of Lake Alfred.
Construction of the planned 17,000-square-foot building will begin this fall, and is expected to be completed by December 2009, said Mark Jackson, Polk's tourism and sports marketing director. It will replace existing offices at Colonial Bank in Bartow.
The 8.8-acre parcel, which had been planned for a commercial development, is in a great spot for the county, said Wade Allen, Polk's right-of-way agent who negotiated the purchase. He called it "an unbelievable situation."
Not only is the land at the gateway of the sports complex, but it's also near the Interstate 4 corridor, the Polk Parkway and the entrance to the planned USF Polytechnic campus off the Pace Road interchange.
[ Tom Palmer can be reached at tom.palmer@theledger.com or 863-802-7535. His blog on county government is at county.theledger.com. ]
This story appeared in print on page B1
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