Over the past year, the citizens of City of Lake Wales, and many others, have been reading about, discussing, and commenting on the numerous changes the City has seen this year.
Lake Wales Daily has requested Hilligoss provide a review of how his office has performed in 2024, an update on key projects, and the reasoning behind some of the strategies the City has employed.
The following is the Mayor’s reply to our request, and addresses the Lake Wales Community:
Turning the Page on 2024
This week brings us to the end of another historic year for the City of Lake Wales. Over the last three years, the leadership of the City of Lake Wales has worked hard to make our city “a bit better and more beautiful” through strategic, long-term, planning and the effective implementation of those plans. Here are some of the results of those commitments in 2024.
Renaissance of Our Historic Downtown
In 2019, City Government partnered with Lake Wales Main Street to design and adopt the Lake Wales Connected Plan. That plan was an optimistic and aggressive redevelopment vision for our city’s historic downtown and Northwest Neighborhood based upon its original design by the Olmsted brothers who envisioned Lake Wales as a “city in a garden”.
This plan immediately drew national attention and won national acclaim, but it is only an expensive three-ring binder unless there is a real commitment and courage to implement on the part of city leadership. Lake Wales Connected had 69 action steps and at the end of 2024 we have initiated and completed over 50 of those.
The centerpiece of the plan was the redesign of Park Ave. and Market Street Plaza. A $13.5 million dollar project that was initiated at the outset of this year. A highlight of was the weekend of December 13-14 when we hosted both “Make it Magical” and the annual Christmas Parade and our downtown was packed with visitors. For the first time, as we near the completion of this huge undertaking, the citizens of Lake Wales were able to get a glimpse of the beautiful and attractive space that has been created.
Simultaneous to this work in the heart of downtown has been the continued development of the Linear Garden which runs along Scenic Highway in front of our Public Library. During 2024 we have added a meandering walking path, an attractive fence separating the park from railroad tracks, invested in attractive plantings and trees, and received a generous donation to place sculptures throughout the park. The linear garden is an attractive retreat in the heart of our city and has already been used successfully for markets and concerts in our downtown.
Also, early in 2024, the City Commission adopted a ‘Historic Overlay” district for our downtown which will make sure that development there preserves and enhances Lake Wales charm.
This planning for and investment in our city has prompted entrepreneurs and investors to visit and tour the city. The largest benefit to our city was realized in June when, as a direct result of the investment made and work done, we received a $22.9 million RAISE grant which will allow us to continue this work on 1st Street, Central Avenue, A Street, and Lincoln Ave.
Pedestrians, Pedalers, and Parks
A top priority of all this planning is to turn our city into a destination that is inviting to people spending quality, leisurely, time here. To that end we have worked to make it friendly for pedestrians, bike riders, etc.
This commitment begins right in the heart of the city where our Market Street Plaza now is a small park, with grassy play areas and swings, in the heart of our downtown. It extends outward with the recently completed Park Ave. Connector Trail which gives walkers and bike riders an attractive, shaded, walk through historic neighborhoods to the shores of Lake Wailes.
In May of 2024, we partnered with Polk County Citrus Connection to become only the second city in the county to offer a “Squeeze” route. This is a free, golf-cart shuttle service, to help people conveniently get around our downtown area.
We also completed our Parks and Recreation Master Plan for our city in 2024. This plan calls for us to make aggressive investments in our seven city parks and recreational complexes over the next several years. This plan not only serves as a guideline for our plans but gives our leaders the needed groundwork to apply for grants to help fund this $28 million investment. This has already resulted in us receiving a $50,000 grant for renovations to Frasier Field and a $200,000 investment in our soccer complex. Along with that, at year’s end, we received a $282,000 grant to begin planning and developing another connector trail along Tower Boulevard. Lake Wales is quickly becoming a city where you can go anywhere in a safe way along an attractive path.
Taking Control of Our Future
In 2020, City Leadership enacted a 180 Utility Service Area for Lake Wales. This action established the future footprint of our city and gave us a sort of first right of refusal for annexation and development requests around our city. It was a crucial action for a city amid a county where neighboring municipalities are all annexing and developing rapidly.
We made a big investment in developing a land use plan for this area in 2023 called, “Lake Wales Envisioned” and in 2024, we took the first big steps toward enacting that plan when we adopted all new building codes for our city. These new building codes raise the standards we call for from developers to a level that is higher than any other Polk County Municipality and they highly incentivize any developer who will commit to these superior standards, especially standards of “Traditional Neighborhood Design”.
We are already seeing developers amend site and architectural plans to conform to these higher standards and the results will be much, higher quality development in our future.
Our Lake Wales Recreational Center
At the end of 2023, the YMCA ended a decades long partnership with Lake Wales and pulled out of oversight of the facility located on Burns Ave. This sudden, unexpected, decision left us with big questions and the real prospect we may lose control of a location that provided several, valuable services to our citizens.
However, we responded by taking direct control of and making a big investment in the building. The city completely refurbished the building, updated all the exercise equipment, recruited and placed high-energy staff and in the Spring of 2024 the former YMCA was reopened as The Lake Wales Recreational Center.
This has become an exciting hub of community activity with well over 1000 citizens having already purchased annual memberships.
Raising Our Standard of Living
For decades Lake Wales has lagged the County and State in median income. Along with this, the last decade has seen a huge decline in citrus which was always the backbone of local economy. We are working hard to address these situations and bring high quality, high paying, jobs into our area. In 2024 we invested in an Economic Development Plan with the Central Florida Development Council. This plan has already received statewide awards and recognition for its scope and quality.
The plan focused on targeting where we can create space for and how we can recruit and incentivize the sort of businesses which bring those opportunities to our city. We have already enacted codes that incentivize businesses which will commit to making large capital investments in Lake Wales and whose plan will create jobs that pay much higher than the current, median, income. In 2024, Advanced Drainage Systems began site development on their new, 100-acre, plant in Lake Wales. When that plant is built out and fully operational it will create over 200, higher paying, jobs and bring big financial benefits to our city. We are receiving inquiries from other businesses like this as well.
We also have partnered with Retail Strategies and, in 2024, saw several new restaurants come to Lake Wales including Freddy’s and Slim Chickens. Construction has already begun on a Panera Bread and Dunkin Donuts. We also have a new Starbucks coming to Lake Wales.
Along with this, the Lake Wales CRA continues to incentivize the development of locally owned and operated businesses. 2024 will see the opening of a new bar-b-que, bar, and salon on 1ststreet-all of which we have given grants to help begin. We have also seen the continued growth and development of BizLinc in 2024. Currently over 30 local business owners are coached and resourced out of that small-business incubator which we helped begin as a result of our Lake Wales Connected Plan.
Investing In Safety and Infrastructure
In 2022, the City Commission of Lake Wales enacted a Multi-Modal Fee. This action caused developers to make investments in local infrastructure needs that are unique to our area. This single action has brought more than $1 million into our local coffers which we can use on our roads, sidewalks, paths, etc. That, along with the investments we have made and growth in property values we’ve seen, have enabled us to make significant investments in the infrastructure of our city.
We have finally been able to fully fund our street resurfacing projects. In 2024, twelve local streets were resurfaced and eleven more are scheduled for resurfacing in 2025. This program had been backlogged for years because of stagnant growth.
In 2024 we worked with Duke Energy to inventory and update all our city lighting. We made multi-million-dollar investments to repair or replace sewer lines in our NW neighborhoods and along Buck Moore Road.
In August of this year, we began a multi-million-dollar project to place new sidewalks and street trees on Alabama Street, Booker Avenue, J.A. Wiltshire Ave., E Street, F, Street, Harding Avenue, Lincoln Avenue, Pearl Street, and Washington Ave.
The Lake Wales Airport continues to grow and develop. This year we received Federal Grants to extend runways, rehabilitate Taxi Lanes and T-hangars, install new fence, lighting, and security systems. This along with an updated, modern, fuel farm has increased air traffic to the airport dramatically. Revenue brought to the city from the Airport has nearly tripled to over $40 million annually.
This responsible management has also allowed us to continue making investments in the safety services of Lake Wales. In October we took ownership of a new, modern, fire engine. WE have been able to hire five more police officers as well as additional fire-fighters.
When cities are hostile and reactionary toward growth rather than approaching it in a responsible, optimistic, and proactive way; these areas of safety services and infrastructure are the first to deteriorate as growth rolls right over top of them.
It is common to hear aspiring politicians speak of “responsible growth” in times like we are experiencing in Lake Wales. Usually what they are trying to subliminally promise is to “stop growth”. It is a cynical ploy because that cannot be done in any way that is ethical or legal. What we can do as community leaders is work hard to make sure our citizens garner as many of the benefits and opportunities that come with growth while minimizing as many of the negatives as possible.
We have worked hard to do that for Lake Wales and I believe we have done that well in 2024.
-Mayor Jack Hilligoss, City of Lake Wales
