by James Coulter
A new U-HAUL moving and self-storage facility is planned to be built now that the City of Lake Wales has approved the annexation, rezoning, and redesignation of more than acres of land along US Highway 27.
At their regular meeting on Tuesday evening, January 7, 2025, Lake Wales city commissioners voted unanimously to approve the second reading of three ordinances related to more than 4 acres of land being considered for development.
The first ordinance pertained to the annexation of the land into the city limits. The second and third each pertained to amending the land use and zoning designation to Limited Commercial.
This annexation and amendments to the land use and zoning designations will help facilitate the development of a proposed moving and self-storage facility. According to the city agenda memo, this facility will include the construction of “one one-story 13,239SF building and loading dock, and one three-story 27,348SF (footprint – total GSF is 82,044) building.”
As the memo further elaborates: “The subject vacant property is located in unincorporated Polk County, east of US Highway 27 and adjacent to the Parc at Lake Wales multi-family development underway.”
All three ordinances have previously been given preliminary approval by the city commission at a previous meeting on Dec. 17, 2024. These ordinances have been recommended and approved previously by the Planning and Zoning Board.