Polk County Public Schools help nearly 4,000 homeless students each year
HAINES CITY In February, Haines City High School senior Brielle Barnes’ already tenuous home life spiraled into homelessness after she and her mother got into an argument and Barnes began living in her car.
“I stopped going to school because I was wearing the same clothes and I didn’t have anywhere to wash them,” said Barnes, 19, adding that she slept in her car for about two weeks before a friend invited her to stay with her family. “I ended up doing E-learning. My best friend since kindergarten said I could come move up here with her.”
POLK COUNTY On Wednesday, the Polk County Planning Commission will issue its recommendation on a controversial rezoning application for the ImperiaLakes Golf Course.
If a requested zoning change is approved, over 900 homes could eventually be built on the property occupied by the ImperiaLakes Golf Course. While owner John Lennon has said that is not his intention, the zoning change to RL-1 requested by Lakeland-based company ECON South LLC would entitle a future owner or developer to one home per acre on the 188-acre property. From there, multiple processes exist to expand the potential number of homes to five houses per acre, totaling 940 new homes.
State OK d bill preventing local government from placing greater restrictions on home-based business
State lawmakers approved a bill banning cities and counties from regulating the sale of firearms
With the Florida Legislature s regular session over, the state s counties, cities and towns have found themselves in a familiar situation.
Lawmakers in the Florida Senate and House this year continued to chip away at the power of local governments to control everything from home-based businesses to cruise ships. There was a lot of disappointment this session, said Cragin Mosteller, director of external affairs for the Florida Association of Counties, in discussing the home rule issue. I felt that this year was a lot of mosquito bites.
LAKELAND In its prime, the house ranked among the most distinguished in Lakeland, a Victorian treasure standing along a street whose very name signals prosperity.
The house at 1022 Success Ave., one of the oldest in the South Lake Morton Historic District, is a modified Queen Anne structure in a neighborhood dominated by Craftsman homes and bungalows. Built before 1910, it stood stately with such exterior features as a hexagonal turret, oversized bay windows and a wraparound porch.
On the inside, the home gleamed with sophisticated details: an ornate staircase, 10-foot ceilings, mahogany-stained crown moldings, broken-tile floors and three fireplaces, including one in the parlor lined with Delft tiles.