Gaye Sharpe, Tabitha Biehl and Jeff Spence

The Polk County Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the appointment of Tabitha Biehl as the new director of Polk County Parks and Natural Resources.
She succeeds Gaye Sharpe, who is retiring. She officially assumes the position Oct. 27.
Biehl has been at the county for 20 years in various roles in the Polk County Enviornmental Lands Program and brings a broad experience in land management, securing grants, expanding environmental education and other related fields.
County Manager Bill Beasley cited her varied professional background in seeking commission approval for her promotion from her position as land and water natural areas manager. She had held that position since 2018.
Before the vote, commissioners praised the good reputation she and Ms Sharpe had in the community and her ability to make the details of technical projects understandable to the general public.
Also present at Tuesday’s meeting was Jeff Spence, who preceded Sharpe and Biehl in that position.
Looking ahead Biehl discussed the importance of protecting natural resources and making the county’s parks and natural resource sites accessible to the public.

The long-sought environmental education center at Lakeland’s Se7en Wetlands near Mulberry appears to be coming closer to reality.
Polk County’s Development Review Committee is scheduled to discuss plans for a 2,200-square-foot facility at its Oct. 2 meeting.
The center will be located near the entrance from Polk County’s Loyce E. Harpe Park and will have only pedestrian access.
The park is open to the public daily for hiking and nature observation. There is no admission charge.
This year’s Lakeland budget contains $2.1 million for the project.
The park, which opened in 2018, contains 8.5 miles of trails that loop around a network of treatment wetlands that are used to remove nutrients from water discharged from the city’s sewer system before the water reaches the North Prong of the Alafia River.
The land was mined for phosphate in the 1920s and acquired by the city in 1985.
The treatment wetlands are home to diverse wildlife including wading birds, shorebirds, otters and dragonflies.

The effort to secure a piece of the Alafia River’s flow someday got serious Wednesday.
The Polk Regional Water Cooperative approved a revised administrative budget that includes $204,820 to challenge a permit awarded in July to Tampa Bay Water use the remaining allowable flow in the Alafia River to meet its future water demands.
This occurred after discussions involving the cooperative, Tampa Bay Water and the Southwest Florida Water Management District did not result in an agreement.
On Sept 3, Tampa Bay Water informed PRWC officials that it was not willing to decrease its permit request.
Tampa Bay Water provides water to Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties and to the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa.
That permit approval will not be final pending the resolution of the challenge, board members were told.
The idea of tapping the Alafia River goes back decades, but PRWC’s plans did not include it until 2017 along with other so-called alternative water supply projects involving the Peace River, the Peace Creek Drainage Canal and the Lower Floridan Aquifer.
Two main tributaries of the Alafia River form in Polk County before merging in Hillsborough County to form the river’s main channel.
The existence of those tributaries is the basis for the water cooperative’s claim.
This discussion like all other discussions about tapping surface water is about how it affects minimum flows and levels. This refers to the amount of flow a river requires for fish to swim freely and for generally healthy flow.
This was a major issue for decades on the Peace River, whose riverbed had no flow for miles in Polk County at times of low rainfall because of excessive water use. within its watershed
The idea of setting minimum flows and levels is to prevent a repeat of that problem elsewhere.
The challenge approved Wednesday could involve a formal administrative hearing or could, like an earlier dispute with the Peace River Manasota Water Supply Authority. result in some kind of settlement.
Stay tuned.

Conservation Florida this week announced the completion of securing a conservation easement over a 2,317-acre ranch on Lake Kissimmee east of Lake Wales.
The deal, which has been in the works for five years, involves a cooperative effort by Arnie and Lauren Bellini, the U.S. Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration Program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Agricultural Land Easement Program and Conservation Florida.
The ranch was acquired by the South Florida Water Management District in 2004 as part of the Kissimmee River restoration but was later surplussed and ended up in the hands of a private developer who proposed a golf resort.
It is adjacent to Polk County’s Coleman Landing park.
The ranch features four miles of lakefront, 200 species of plants and animals including protected species such as bald eagle and Florida scrub jay.
“This is a conservation victory for the people, wildlife, and waters of Florida,” said Traci Deen, CEO of Conservation Florida. “Eagle Haven Ranch is one of the most significant properties in the Northern Everglades I’ve encountered. Its permanent protection is a direct result of bold partnerships, visionary funding programs, and the power of the conservation community.”

The boardwalk at Mosaic-Peace River Park in Homeland is being closed permanently after the County Commission decided it did not want to spend $2.7 million to repair hurricane damage.
The boardwalk that crosses a portion of the river floodplain in Homeland was originally built in 1995 and expanded in 2008. Funds for the initial project came from a state grant, IMC-Agrico (now Mosaic) and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
It included interpretative signs partially funded by the Friends of the Parks Foundation and the Coastal and Heartland National Estuary Partnership.
It was heavily damaged by falling trees during Hurricane Milton last year and had previously sustained damage during Hurricane Irma,
It had also received less serious damage over the years following thunderstorms.
County Manager Bill Beasley told commissioners at the July 11 agenda study session that it was likely the boardwalk would sustain additional damage as hurricanes continue to affect the area.
Gaye Sharpe, Polk’s director of parks and natural resources, said the next step was to come up with a plan to demolish enough of the boardwalk to discourage people from climbing over the barricades.
She said eventually the entire boardwalk would have to be demolished. She said she did not know how much any of that will cost.
Marian Ryan, conservation chair for Ancient Islands Sierra. said the 5,000-foot boardwalk is the only boardwalk of any size in Polk County and is popular with residents who had gone there to fish, birdwatch or just enjoy nature.
The 88 acres of wetlands the boardwalk traverses is part of the 460-acre county park located on reclaimed phosphate mined land and donated to Polk County in 1984 by IMC-Agrico.
The rest of the park’s trails and other facilities will remain open.

Polk’s legislators heard more from local officials about effects of SB 180 on local efforts to update development regulations during the Aug. 12 delegation meeting in Bartow, the Winter Haven Sun reports.
Winter Haven City Manager T. Michael Stavres said the legislation forced the City Commission to repeal a tree-protection ordinance it approved in September 2024 (SB 180 made the restrictions retroactive to Aug. 1, 2024).
That ordinance, which was the first substantial amendment to the city’s landscaping ordinance in several years, required that trees–especially heritage oaks and specimen trees–be protected during construction work of various types. This was a major setback to the city’s efforts to implement an urban forestry master plan that had been prepared by a consultant.
This is not an isolated case.
During discussion Aug. 13 of an ongoing rewrite of the county development regulations by a volunteer committee, members were told it was unclear how much of their work would be able to be implemented unless legislators repeal sections of the law.
Officials all over Florida reportedly have voiced similar concerns about seeing years of work by lay committees to complete periodic updates of their growth regulations be trashed because of this legislative mandate.
Some local governments have reportedly agreed to join lawsuits to challenge the restrictions, but so far, no such lawsuit has been field.
The restrictions were added to a bill that was originally proposed to deal with post-hurricane reconstruction issues to give property owners an opportunity to rebuild without dealing with lengthy regulatory delays.
At this point it is unknown how or whether legislators will respond to these complaints by local officials.
Stay tuned as committee meetings and bill filings begin later this year in advance of the 2026 session.

While a volunteer committee spends hours reviewing Polk’s growth plan as part of a required periodic review, it is unclear whether any of their suggestions will go anywhere.
That’s because last year the Florida Legislature passed, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill (SB 180) that included provisions that prohibits local officials from enacting tougher growth regulations or growth plans and made the ban retroactive to last year.
The Polk County Commission has already shelved proposed changes that dealt with development in perennially flood-prone areas because of this change.
During a recent work session with the county’s lobbyists. commissioners learned this is a statewide concern because some of the areas affected were poorly defined (within 100 miles of the storm track) and appears to be having perhaps unintended consequences.
As a result, the lobbyists said there is some feeling legislators may be forced to walk back or clarify the provisions.
That is because it would nullify years of work by local officials, which does not seem fair.
Nevertheless, whether legislators will relent on this pro-developer further erosion of growth management is hard to say because this is the same folks who voted to require all votes to increase impact fees, which many developers oppose, to be unanimous and not simply by a super majority.
Elections matter and what happened last year is another reminder of the need for the public who regularly complains about overdevelopment to support candidates that share their views.