Lake Wales land once approved for large development might be preserved

A 1,366-acre property annexed into Lake Wales for a mixed-use development might actually be saved as conservation land.

The Stoneridge property is one of 11 sites recommended for acquisition by Polk County through its Environmental Lands Program. The Conservation Land Acquisition Selection Advisory Committee made the recommendations at its Sept. 23 meeting in Bartow.

The Lake Wales City Commission voted 4-1 in September 2025 to approve annexation of the Stoneridge property, along with land-use and zoning revisions sought for by the developer. That action followed statements of opposition to the development plan from nearly 20 residents.

The property is located south of State Road 60 and west and south of Lake Wales Municipal Airport.

A Technical Advisory Group toured the site the week of Sept. 14, said Tabitha Biehl, director of Polk County's Parks and Natural Resources Division. The group found a mixture of habitats, including marsh, wet prairie and bayhead swamp and a section of sand pine scrub, Biehl said. The wetlands drain to the Peace Creek Canal.

Photos included in the CLASAC meeting packet show a burrowing owl on a fence, along with wet areas containing pickerelweed, a native aquatic plant. The Stoneridge property, now used for agriculture, holds several federally listed plant species, Biehl said.

The Technical Advisory Group scored the site in five categories: water resources (30 out of 37 possible points), natural communities and landscape (35 out of 47), plants and animals (15 out of 20), human values (eight out of nine) and management (four out of five). That yielded a total score of 92.

Polk County first created a land conservation program in 1994, after voters approved a referendum to establish a 20-year property tax levy to fund land acquisition. The tax expired in 2015, and 58.4% of Polk voters approved a new tax assessment in 2022.

The county estimated that the program will generate $312 million over 20 years. The money can be used for outright purchases, conservation easements and collaborations with state agencies.

Developer proposed nearly 3,000 homes

The program only considers properties nominated by owners or their representatives. Shelton Rice, a Lakeland lawyer, is listed as the representative for the Stoneridge owner, Stoneridge Park LP, a New Jersey company.

Rice spoke on behalf of the developer at the Lake Wales City Commission meeting in September 2025. He could not be reached for comment on Sept. 25.

A master development plan projected 2,400 single-family homes and 550 multi-family dwelling units. The developer planned to divide Stoneridge into three main segments: 104 acres of mixed use to the north; 365 acres of industrial use in the center; and 749 acres of residential and mixed-use land to the south.

The committee's recommendation moves to the Polk County Commission, which will consider all 11 properties at its Oct. 20 meeting. The item will appear on the consent agenda, to be approved or rejected without discussion, unless a commissioner asks to move it onto the regular agenda, Biehl said.

Commissioners will likely discuss the recommendations at their agenda review session on Oct. 16.

CLASAC, a group of volunteers appointed by county commissioners, considered 13 nominations at the Sept. 23 meeting and recommended consideration of all but two, the Tindel Forest and Lake Pierce island properties.

Here are summaries of the other properties recommended for potential acquisition:

Thompson Ranch, approximately 53 acres in northern Polk County, received a score from TAG of 86.

Fussell Ranch, 131 acres in northeast Polk (91 score)

Lake L, 1,266 acres in southern Polk, (103 score)

Indian Lake Estates, 86 acres east of Lake Wales (81 score)

Whipperwill Woods, 18 acres in eastern Polk (96 score)

Crooked to Tiger Connection, 6,303 acres in eastern Polk (87 score)

Ridge Corridor Connection, 1,528 acres in eastern Polk (80 score)

GF Laurent-Altman Piece, 199 acres in southern Polk (81 score)

3K's Family LLLP, 1018 acres in southeast Polk (97 score)

Lake Buffum Scrub, 25 acres east of Fort Meade (98)

Emphasis on wildlife corridors

"At this point, it's just all about valuing the individual properties, whether or not they fit the program or not," Biehl said. "But the priorities of our program in this round is not only working to protect water, wildlife, wilderness and the working landscapes, but it's really to do it in in a manner where we're creating these wildlife corridors or water resource corridors, to protect the resources."

Some of the tracts offer the potential to preserve corridors, sections of undeveloped land that allow large animals to roam, Biehl said. One of those is Lake L property, which borders Lake Livingston, south of Frostproof.

"One of the reasons it scored very well is it's right in the middle of the Florida Wildlife Corridor and existing conservation land," Biehl said. "It's one of the critical corridor connections from the east to the west that the Florida Wildlife Corridor (Foundation) has really been working on."

The Florida Wildlife Corridor is a designated ribbon of crucial habitat running up the center of the peninsula covering about 18 million acres. The Florida Legislature adopted the Florida Wildlife Corridor Act in 2021, recognizing the corridor's importance and encouraging protection of land through investments by state agencies.

The Crooked to Tiger Connection stretches roughly from Crooked Lake east to Tiger Creek south of Babson Park. TAG assessed a 171-acre portion before submitting its report.

The land is not currently included in the Florida Wildlife Corridor, but it could be added because development around Davenport has rendered that segment not viable for animal movement, Biehl said. Polk County is working closely with the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation on a possible revision of the map, Biehl said.

Polk County owns property on the west side of Crooked Lake, and two wildlife crossings under U.S. 27 allow movement by animals, Biehl said. The wildlife can travel on a "land bridge" between Crooked Lake and Little Crooked Lake and continue east toward Tiger Creek Preserve, a 4,980-acre property managed by The Nature Conservancy.

The Florida Wildlife Corridor model in the Davenport area "has been functionally severed for some time," Jason Lauritsen, chief conservation officer for Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation, said by email. Land on both sides of U.S. 27 is either developed or rapidly developing, he said.

"We commend the efforts Tabitha Biehl and Polk County have made, along with other local conservation partners, to identify and secure alternative corridor connections across the highway," Lauritsen said. "The Crooked Lake to Tiger Creek route is promising, and may be our best chance to recover some of the ecological value of the Davenport corridor."

Gary White can be reached at [email protected] or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.