The Polk County Commission voted this week to spend $600,000 toward the purchase of a 153-acre tract lying east and north of Lake Pansy near the intersection of U.S. 17 and U.S. 92.
This is a joint purchase with the Winter Haven, whose City Commission approved the project in July. Total purchase price is $1.4 million.
Winter Haven officials called the site consisting of 140 acres of wetlands “one of the last large ecologically valuable parcels within the city limits.”
The site had previously been reviewed for purchase in 2023 by the Polk County Environmental Lands Program and Polk’s CLASAC panel had recommended pursuing its purchase.
Winter Haven will manage the property.
Tentative plans call for a restoration project that will address treating discharges between Lake Pansy and Lake Rochelle and some future passive recreation and educational projects.