City of Winter Haven Capital Improvement Projects Update

8/20/2021

On Wednesday evening the City Commission had several presentations addressing current and upcoming capital projects in the City of Winter Haven. These are just a snapshot of a few projects, as there are numerous in various stages of planning, design and construction. We wanted to write up a quick synopsis for you to share in the excitement of many of these quality of life and transportation improvement projects! One thing that I wanted to point out, especially related to the transportation and road infrastructure projects is how skillful our Public Works team is partnering with the Florida Department of Transportation to pay for the majority of these projects, saving the tax payers millions of dollars.

Downtown Gateway Signage

The design committee at Main Street Winter Haven has been hard a work for several years in collaboration with the downtown Community Redevelopment Agency to place gateway signage throughout the downtown core to help foster an identity and wayfinding to those visiting the area.

The Main Street Design Committee has developed a concept that has been accepted by the City Commission and will begin to be installed over the course of the next year. Below you can see a rendering of the design as well as the proposed approximate locations. Congratulations to the Main Street Winter Haven design committee for bringing this project to fruition!

Southeast Pocket Park

Fire Station 3 dog park is coming along. They are still waiting for fencing which is on back order. They are also installing a perimeter sidewalk. The next phase of this project will be for a children's playground. There will be more public input with stakeholders (including kids) as that project comes closer to moving forward.

Sertoma Park Improvements

In partnership with members of the Sertoma Park Board, the City has designed the renovations to the park to try to maximize what they could do for their budget to have the greatest impact on the teams who play there. They had already completed a renovation of the concession facility a year ago and are now focused on the fields and lighting. This project will involve building out three existing fields so that they are all the same size as well as the upgrading of the t-ball fields. A lakeshore walking path will also be added in addition to the latest LED lighting for improved safety and cost efficiencies. At Monday's commission meeting the commission will consider the $2.9 million dollar guaranteed maximum price contract to be awarded to Chamber member Whitehead Construction.

Chain of Lakes Park Phase 2

In partnership with Polk County Tourism & Sports Marketing, the City of Winter Haven will be moving forward with the design phase of the Chain of Lakes Park phase 2 renovations. Chamber Member Cater & Kaye Engineering have been awarded the contract for the Professional Consulting Services to begin the design, engineering and permitting services. Polk County is paying for half of the development costs and they have advanced $200,000 of those funds to move forward with the master planning. This will include stakeholder engagement from end users as well as those residential neighbors in the Park Lake apartment.

Martin Luther King Jr Park

The park renovation is currently under construction in preparation for a end of year completion date. Site work is being completed and sidewalks are being laid. Construction is beginning on the new restroom facility which will also include a concession area and a staging area for audio/visual work for events. Because the building is built into the grade of the hill, announcing and production during events can actually be done from the accessible roof of the building. One very well-thought out feature is that the sound system will be built out in to the new lighting so that music for the ski shows and other events can be filtered evenly throughout the park. This new park will be home to the international World Water Ski Show Championship in October 2022 (mark your calendar for the entire community to rally around this event!)

One item being considered through the downtown CRA and Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing to potentially replace the stage. The old stage has been removed and they are looking to install an 80 ft long and 15 ft wide dock that will expand the variety of events that can be held at the venue.

South Lake Silver Complete Street Project

In perfect collaboration with the above MLK Jr Park Project, this project includes roadway and drainage improvements along with added sidewalks, enhanced pedestrian connections and additional on-street parking along Lake Silver Dr, directly adjacent to the park up to 1st Street. This project is about 75% complete. This project total cost is $1.2 million with all of that being paid by the Florida Department of Transportation.

Ave C SW/2nd St SW Complete Street Project

Ave C SW from First Street SW to US 17 and 2nd St SW from Ave C to Ave G. The project will include on-street parking, upgraded sidewalks, a multi-use path, pedestrian safety enhancements, landscaping, and traffic calming measures as well as putting in the infrastructure for lighting to be added in the future. This is a much needed addition to improve safety and parking as this corridor continues to expand with the construction of the Rain Dance Apartments, Certipay continuing to grow, and the popularity and growth of the businesses and weekly farmer's market within that district. Construction will begin on this in October and total project cost is $1.4M. The city will pay approximately $6,000 of that cost and the FDOT will pick up the rest.

Ave K Complete Street Project

This project goes from 1st St NW to Lake Martha Drive and will serve as a secondary gateway entrance to Polk State (in addition to sidewalks , pedestrian safety, and road and drainage improvements for the residents along the corridor). There will be no additional on-road parking in this project but there will be the addition of a traffic circle to serve as a traffic calming device. They are also exploring a raised pedestrian crossing as you get closer to the intersection of Lake Martha Drive. This project is at 90% design. Once they are at 100% after some historic housing review this project will go out to bid and they hope to begin construction in early 2022. Cost of project is estimated to be $1.3 million with 50% of that being paid by the FDOT. More resident coordination meetings and communications will happen when they have a more firm timeline.

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