LOCAL NEWS

WORDS Barry Friedman/LkldNow.com

MUTZ: A CITY LAKELAND’S SIZE NEEDS 5,000 MORE RESIDENCES

A lot of people are moving to Lakeland and they’re joining the competition for a limited pool of affordable housing to rent or buy. That’s the topic of a lot of local news lately. (At least four other items on this page touch on that theme.) Lakeland is 5,000 residences short for a city its size, Mayor Bill Mutz said at a recent forum on housing and homelessness that was co-hosted by LkldNow. His message: Housing is subject to the basic economic laws of supply and demand, and prices won’t come down until the supply increases. Remembering that point might help you understand how he votes on some upcoming projects.

LAKE PARKER DUCK HUNTING ISSUE GETTING NATIONAL ATTENTION

It seemed like a local issue when people who live near the western shore of Lake Parker asked city commissioners to do something about duck hunters before the next hunting season begins this fall; they said the hunters’ early-morning shotgun blasts last January woke them up and had them worrying about safety for people on the lakeside walking/jogging trail. It turns out their calls for regulation got the attention of multiple national waterfowl and conservation groups who are ready to come to Lakeland in force to speak out against any attempts to interfere with what they say is their legal right to hunt on the state-owned waterway. This could get interesting.

LAKE MIRIAM APARTMENTS PUT ON HOLD AS CITY SEEKS ROAD IMPROVEMENTS

A lot of people were watching to see what city commissioners would do in early April when they were supposed to vote on a controversial apartment complex planned for Lake Miriam Drive near Florida Avenue. The project was endorsed by the city planning staff, but had a half-hearted 3-2 approval from the Planning & Zoning Board (two board members missed the meeting) and firm opposition from neighbors, some of them prominent in political and business circles. The developers, sensing commission sentiment wasn’t going their way, offered to modify their plans, eliminating a fourth story on two buildings and reducing density. So the commission opted to delay a vote, agreeing to let the developer revise their plan and asking their staff to work with county government on ways to improve traffic flow on Lake Miriam Drive. The city received updated plans in mid-April and it looks like the next public hearing will be June 6.

BLACK & BREW EXPANDING INTO A THIRD LOCATION

People were excited when Black & Brew Coffee House & Bistro announced it was opening a third location — this one with drivethrough — at a building on South Florida Avenue that was vacated by Krispy Kreme last year. How do we know they were excited? LkldNow’s Instagram post showing plans to convert the structure became far and away our most-liked post ever. There will be seating for 60 inside the restaurant and on covered patios. Owner Chris McArthur is planning a dive-through system aimed at minimizing wait times; customers will order online or use the Black & Brew app to place orders and pay for them in advance. The menu will not stray far from the kinds of sandwiches, soups, salads and pastries offered at the downtown and library locations.

WATSON CLINIC ADDS CHIROPRACTIC CARE AT REHAB FACILITY

A few years ago a Lakeland chiropractor checked with the Watson Clinic, the region’s largest medical practice, to see if they were interested in adding chiropractic services. He was told there was no interest at the time. That has changed. Following the lead of some other large medical practices such as the Cleveland Clinic, Watson Clinic recently hired Jalen Banks to offer chiropractic care, dry needling, acupuncture and cupping at its Center for Specialized Rehabilitation on County Road 540A and Lakeland Highlands Road. Banks, a New Jersey native who received his training in South Florida, specializes in treating sports and spinal injuries. A spokesman for the American Chiropractic Association said it’s getting more common to see chiropractors in traditional medical settings: “If those patients saw a chiropractor as part of a multidisciplinary team and were referred for chiropractic care from another healthcare professional who earned their trust, they might be more willing to give the treatment a try.”

LAKELAND-DEVELOPED SMART TRAFFIC SIGNAL PROGRAM EXPANDING

A few years ago, the city of Lakeland came up with a traffic innovation aimed at preventing accidents caused by red-light runners. Basically, it uses cameras that can sense when a vehicle is going too fast to stop before a yellow light turns red; when that happens, the lights stay red a few second longer in all directions so that nobody other than the redlight runner enters the intersection. The program will expand from four intersections to 25, thanks to a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation. There’s no word yet on which intersections will be affected. Intersections on South Florida Avenue, Edgewood Drive and Cleveland Heights Boulevard are likely candidates, a city official said.

NEXT BUSINESS INCUBATOR WILL FOCUS ON AVIATION, LOGISTICS

Prospective entrepreneurs in Lakeland have several venues where they can work on their ideas and collaborate with others who are planning startup ventures. There’s Catapult on Lake Mirror and The Well in the Parker Street neighborhood. Lakeland’s newest business incubator has a very specific focus: aviation and logistics. Its name is ELEVATE and it is being launched by the Aerospace Center for Excellence. The location is ACE’s Sun ’n Fun campus at Lakeland Linder International Airport, and it is scheduled to open in June. Already Polk State College has announced a partnership with ELEVATE. Learn more: elevateincubator.com

IF YOU THOUGHT MORE PEOPLE WERE MOVING HERE, NUMBERS SAY YOU’RE RIGHT

Polk County added 24,287 new residents between July 1, 2021 and July 1, 2020, bringing total population to 753,520, according to the U.S. Census Bureau; that’s the nation’s seventh-highest number of new residents and it makes Polk the fastest-growing county in Florida. Looking at percentage growth, the Lakeland-Winter Haven metro area also ranked seventh in the nation with a growth rate close to 3.3%. Last year, Lakeland-Winter Haven ranked second in the nation in growth among metro areas with 500,000plus populations. This year, we’re tied for second in that category with Boise, Idaho, and topped by Myrtle Beach, S.C.

LAKELAND OFFICIALS PLEDGE TO DEVELOP PLAN FOR MOLD SAFETY AT RENTALS

A coalition of 25 churches across Polk County has taken on several social and economic issues over the years. This year the group — Polk Ecumenical Council for Empowerment (PEACE) — is trying to get local government to take action on landlords who refuse to fix mold issues that can make tenants sick. Lakeland Mayor Bill Mutz and Commissioner Stephanie Madden attended a PEACE rally in late March and promised they would work to develop a plan by Oct. 1. PEACE said mold and mildew problems are particularly acute in area mobile homes and that local governments don’t enforce any standards regarding mold.

OAK STREET DEAL CALLS FOR 200 APARTMENTS AND A PARKING GARAGE

A Tampa company has updated its plans to replace a city parking lot downtown with a seven-story, highend apartment complex and a sixstory parking garage. The location is the Oak Street parking lot just north of the NoBay apartments. Onicx Group, along with The Lunz Group architects, are proposing 200 apartments and 424 parking spaces on a city block that currently holds 125 parking spaces. Under the deal that city commissioners are expected to take up this month, Onicx would buy the city-owned lot for $1.836 million. The company would lease 150 spaces to the city for public parking, and it has also asked for property tax adjustments and relief on some of its impact fees. The project includes 2,000 square feet of street-level commercial space, a size suitable for a cafe but not a grocery store.