(The following story by Tom Palmer appeared on the Lakeland Ledger website on March 2, 2010.)
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — The Winter Haven Planning Commission voted unanimously Tuesday night to revise the city’s growth map to accommodate the planned next phase of the CSX industrial park.
The proposal, which was initiated by Winter Haven’s planning staff, involves revising the growth map to change 932 acres from institutional to industrial and conservation.
There was no public opposition at Tuesday’s hearing.
The Winter Haven City Commission will consider the changes on March 22, when it will transmit the change to the Florida Department of Community Affairs for review.
DCA comments are expected by this summer.
Tuesday’s vote is a prelude to eventual development of the site as a warehouse and distribution center that will complement the 318-acre freight terminal that was approved as a development of regional impact in 2008.
The terminal will be developed by Evansville Western Railway, a CSX subsidiary.
The next step will be an application to develop the 932-acre site.
No one has submitted an application, but information in the backup information for the map change indicates that the ultimate build-out will contain 5.2 million square feet of warehouse and distribution facilities, 2.2 million square feet of light industrial facilities and 500,000 square feet of offices.
Development in the first five years will contain 500,00 square feet of warehouse, 50,000 square feet of light industrial and 30,000 feet of office.
Unlike the first phase,the second phase of the project will not face development of regional impact review because of a change in state growth law approved lastyear by the Florida Legislature.
The change exempts what are known as “dense urban land areas,” which are cities with at least 1,000 people per square mile.
Winter Haven, Lakeland, Fort Meade and Haines City in Polk County are among 236 Florida cities that are exempt from the process.