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LAKELAND — As the year draws to a close, Lakeland officials say there’s a strong sense of “calm” and stability in the city as they look toward 2024.
Mayor Bill Mutz said the 2023 Commission’s work has built a strong foundation for Lakeland to move forward after the coronavirus pandemic.
“This gives us the ability to start taking steps to deal with the impact of COVID-19, and now we have a way to do what matters and plan for what matters most,” Mutz said. Ta.
The Mayor and City Manager Sean Sheraus were invited to share with Ledger some of Lakeland’s biggest accomplishments and successes in 2023.
Strengthening security
In January, the Lakeland Police Department completed the deployment of body cameras to out-of-the-road officers and equipped their cruisers with license plate reading technology. Chief of Staff Hans Lehmann reported that around 250,000 license plates were scanned in two weeks.
Charlows said the police department will hire 13 additional officers this year to strengthen security for its growing population, reabsorb school resource officers into day-to-day duties and add part-time detectives to cold cases. He is said to have hired
The city has hired 12 more Lakeland firefighters to relieve overtime at the fire department by implementing a “Kelly Day” system, a day off when employees are normally scheduled to work. This was part of the fire union’s latest three-year contract.
Mutz said it’s important to him that the city successfully negotiates with the union to reach a longer-term contract that will lead to stability so all parties understand what’s coming.
“We’re tweaking a lot of little things to create calm and stability,” he said.
Lakeland Power begins a new era
In mid-January, Total Wrecking and Environmental, a contractor hired by Lakeland Power, imploded McIntosh Unit 3, destroying the municipal utility’s last coal-fired power plant.
Lakeland Power also completed an extensive review that led to a series of base rate hikes, increasing by 2.25% in April and another 2.25% in October. The electricity company plans to raise prices again in October 2024. Overall, the city’s electricity bill will increase by 7%.
“We needed it to make sure we had the financial wherewithal,” Charlows said.
Five of the six reciprocating internal combustion engines (commonly referred to as RICE engines) ordered from German-based manufacturer MAN arrived at Lakeland in late October. This will allow Lakeland Electric to begin assembly of the new His RICE plant at the McIntosh site.
One of the six RICE engines was severely damaged when the tarpaulin got caught in the depot switch, causing the rail car to overturn and Engine 1 to crash onto the adjacent tracks. The manufacturer has decided to replace this engine and it is expected to arrive between March and April.
“We plan to have these engines operational in 2024,” Charlows said. “This is part of clean energy generation that is more aligned with the future of how utilities need to produce and deliver.”
Lakeland Linder is poised for rapid growth
Lakeland Linder International Airport has entered into two major business agreements in 2023 with City Commission approval.
Even though Amazon has backed away from some of its plans to build a larger cargo facility, the airport is building an additional one for Amazon so it can move two jets previously stored at Tampa International Airport. Two jet parking spaces were created and painted. This contributed to an increase in jet flights to and from Lakeland and continued growth in the size of Amazon’s cargo business.
Lake District residents may not realize that it would mean increased revenue for the city. Amazon pays the airport, which is part of the city’s funding, a landing fee of 85 cents for every 1,000 pounds of cargo that lands at the airport, plus an additional surcharge of 3 cents for every gallon of fuel it pumps.
The City Commission also approved a 15-year, non-exclusive operating agreement with Avero Airlines to provide commercial passenger service from Linder Lake beginning in 2024. Airport Director Chris Hallstrand said the contract would have to mean “crawl, walk and run.” Services may start slowly and grow as demand for services to Lakeland increases among local residents.
keep the detroit tigers
One of the more financially beneficial contracts Lakeland signed in 2023 is with the Detroit Tigers.
The Tigers extended their commitment to hold spring training in Lakeland for another seven years in exchange for $33 million in new dormitories and player facilities. This means the Detroit Tigers will stay in this city until December 31, 2044.
“Knowing that we can maintain a good relationship with the Tigers, keep them in a state-of-the-art facility and keep them for another seven years is very important and will be great economic news at the end of 2023,” said Charlows. said.
Charlus said he expects the design of the new facility to be completed in 2024 and demolition to begin on some of the existing buildings. Construction is scheduled to begin next year.
Keep RP Funding Center’s finances under control
The City of Lakeland has been working to manage spending at the RP Funding Center while entering into business agreements that will bring in revenue.
City commissioners directed city staff to look for ways to reduce venue subsidies. In fiscal year 2022, Lakeland taxpayers paid him more than $2.8 million to help operate the convention center. The goal is to refocus on a rental revenue-based model, and the move will allow Lakeland to close its relationships with the Lakeland Magic G League basketball team and the Florida Tropics (a Major Arena Soccer League team). I ended up losing it.
Charlows said the RP Funding Center’s final audit for fiscal year 2023 showed the city’s grant was about $900,000, well below the desired standard of less than $1 million. . Cindy Collins was hired as the venue’s new director at the end of November.
Affordable new housing units even as private development slows
New construction of affordable housing and multifamily housing continues to increase in Lakeland, despite an overall downturn for private builders.
“This stagnation is occurring because developers are not taking action on approved projects and not starting projects right away. This is mainly driven by the economy,” Mutz said. “There is some waiting period going on as people wait and try to take advantage of the expected low interest rates on projects.”
Lakeland continues to be ranked as one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation, and Polk County is ranked as one of the fastest growing counties in the nation.
How many times have you tried? Polk’s new 2023 restaurant will offer a variety of cuisines.Some people have sadly closed their kitchens.
The city is expected to build 90 new affordable housing units and 370 multifamily units in 2023, according to Charlows. Although these numbers are lower than in recent years, about 150 affordable housing units and more than 750 multifamily units are expected to be built next year, Shereuz said. .
“Multifamily housing and affordable housing are a need in our communities, so we will continue to work to increase our housing stock,” he said.
Some of those units will come from Carter’s redevelopment of the former Florida Tile site into Bonnet Springs Park, which has about 300 multifamily units and 15,000 square feet of retail space under construction as part of the first phase. May originate from adjacent mixed-use development.
Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at swalsh@theledger.com or 863-802-7545. X Follow @SaraWalshFl.
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