The main concern about the eastern leg of the now-shelved Central Polk Parkway was that its route would run to near to conservation lands in the Marion Creek basin.

This week economic development boosters came up with an alternative route—through the middle of the conservation lands.

Two things are driving this idea.

One is Haines City’s interest in securing a better truck route from its industrial park off County Road 544.

The other is coming up with a route that would have cheaper right of way costs that might make the road more financially feasible.

State transportation officials shelved that section of the road a couple of years ago because they concluded it wouldn’t attract enough traffic to justify its construction as a toll road.

The project was proposed several years ago because of projections that U.S. 27 would become too congested in coming decades and another north-south highway was needed.

Critics of this plan have responded that it makes more sense to widen U.S. 17-92, an existing two-lane north-south highway that could take traffic to Interstate 4 with nothing more than a northward extension of the Poinciana Parkway.

The other response would be that new roads do nothing but promote sprawl and ignores that fact that a lot of the traffic congestion on U.S. 27 in northern Polk County is because people are heading for destinations along U.S. 27 and because county planning was so poor in that area that alternative routes for local traffic were never adequately developed.

I’d add that there are ample studies that demonstrate that you can’t build your way out of congestion. The idea that the third-most populous state in the country would not face traffic congestion in urban areas is irrational.

The route presented to the Polk County Transportation Planning Organization was a crudely drawn map that proposes to connect the Central Polk Parkway to the southern end of the Poinciana Parkway, along the route of Cypress Parkway, an already heavily traveled, high-speed two-lane road that some Poinciana residents want widened to ease traffic congestion in this sprawling city-sized subdivision.

However, any new route would need to incorporate wildlife underpasses to recognize wildlife movement in the area, including some species such as Florida black bears and Florida panthers whose presence in the area has been confirmed in recent years.

Although TPO officials didn’t embrace the idea this week, this is an issue that bears watching because some of the road-building ideas economic boosters have been around since the 1920s and never seem to die.

Another solar farm will begin construction in this part of Florida early next year.

Tampa Electric will break ground in January on its new Payne Creek Solar facility off Fort Green Road in southwestern Polk County.

This is part of a continuing drive by the utility to expand its solar capacity.

Interestingly, this site is not far from a piece of land that was proposed for the state’s first hazardous waste incinerator in the early 1990s.

The incinerator encountered public opposition and was never built because of lack of need and permitting issues.

The last meteor shower of autumn, the Geminids, will be visible Wednesday night in the northeastern sky.

All you have to do is to find a place with a relatively dark sky unaffected by urban light pollution and you should have a good view.

Bok Tower Gardens will be hosting a viewing event Wednesday along with a carillon concert,

Local astronomers will be on hand for a program at 6 p.m. and be around with telescopes as the skies darken to offer views of the more distant objects.

The meteor shower will be visible to the naked eye in the northeast sky.

There also will be an astronomy program Saturday at 7 p.m. at Colt Creek State Park on SR 471 north of Lakeland.

The meteor shower will be over by then, but there should be plenty of other objects to see in the sky.

Admission is charged to Bok Tower and Colt Creek, but the programs will be offered at no additional cost.

Colt Creek State Park has relatively dark sky.

The one designated dark sky park in this part of Florida is Kissimmee Prairie State Preserve in Okeechobee County across the Kissimmee River from the Avon Park Air Force Range.

Eric Sutton, a scientist on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s staff, has been named the agency’s new executive director.

He succeeds Nick Wiley, who recently announced he was leaving the agency to take a job with Ducks Unlimited in Tennessee.

Sutton formerly worked in the land management section at the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

I’ve worked with him in the past on a limited basis and found him to be a knowledgeable, serious and hard-working public official.

He has a background in working on endangered species issues.

His promotion is encouraging because the vast majority of Florida’s wildlife species are non-game species, which means they are not hunted or commercially exploited.

Managing those species, which range from familiar species such as the Florida panther and Florida manatee to less-familiar species such as a number of cryptic reptiles, rare plants and invertebrates, is one of the agency’s challenges. It will be more challenging as population growth and the pressures of the development and road-building lobbies put more pressure on natural habitats while funding to protect key parcels languishes in Tallahassee despite voter mandates to do otherwise.

The FWC is also getting some new faces on the commission. One of them is the wife of a former commissioner and another is the son of professional golfer and Trump supporter Jack Nicklaus. Still to be appointed by Gov. Rick Scott is a successor to commission member Brian Yablonski, who is resigning to take a job in another state.

How the new mix of wildlife commissioners will deal with the issues facing Florida’s wildlife will be something the environmental community should continue to monitor.

The makeup of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission is poised for changes

Gov. Rick Scott announced the appointments on Friday afternoon, which is a typical tactic used in recent years to avoid immediate press scrutiny.

The new commissioners, subject to Senate confirmation, are Sonya Rood of St. Augustine, who is listed as a farm manager, and Gary Nicklaus of Jupiter, the son of professional golfer Jack Nicklaus, a major Donald Trump supporter.

They succeed Liesa Priddy, who drew attention for proposing allowing people to shoot Florida panthers to protect livestock at southwest Florida ranches, and Ron “Gator” Bergeron, who recently was featured in the news over his dismay that the Everglades floods following hurricanes.

Another upcoming vacancy to be filled will be the seat held by Brian Yablonski, who is leaving the state to take a job with a conservative Property and Environmental Research Center in Montana with whom he had previously served as a fellow.

Some of the most controversial issues before the FWC for the conservation will involve efforts to continue to protect the Florida panther and the Florida black bear, both of which have large habitat needs in an increasingly urbanizing state.

Furthermore, there is a need for FWC to review the methods for funding the agency to consider tapping the growing ecotourism user groups rather than the shrinking hook-and-bullet crowd.

Expansion of the local trail system will be the topic of two public meetings Tuesday.

First, the County Commission will consider accepting a $200,000 grant to be used toward completing the final leg of the Panther Point Trail, which is depicted in the illustration below as the brown trail along the south end of Lake Hancock.

Construction is expected to begin sometime next year in connection with the construction of a new boat ramp to provide access to the lake. The ramp will be located on Saddle Creek south of the lake and just north of the new Southwest Florida Water Management District control structure.

Jeff Spence, Polk’s director of parks and natural resources, said there are future plans to add a loop that would go to Bartow Eagle Lake Road and connect to Ernest Smith Boulevard.

The item is on the 9 a.m. regular agenda.

In addition, the Florida Department of Transportation will host a workshop from 5 to 7 p.m. to discuss a study that could lead to construction of a new 12-mile recreational trail between Auburndale and Haines City. The meeting will occur at the Lake Alfred Lions Club, 175 N. Nekoma Ave.

The plan for the proposed Old Dixie Trail is to connect the trailhead for the TECO-Auburndale Trail with the Haines City Trail.

The meeting will be conducted in an open house format with consultants and FDOT officials available to answer questions about the project. Maps and other graphics will be available for the public to view.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is scheduled to consider a proposal next month to make feeding members of Florida’s feral monkey populations a violation of Florida’s wildlife regulations.

It seems these feral primates are no longer just a curiosity for state park tourists around Silver Springs, but have been showing up in some communities in that part of Florida in recent years.

The rule is being sought because FWC officials are concerned about the potential for the spread of disease to humans if they have more contact with these animals.

The ultimate solution is to remove the animals from the wild, but that has been controversial, pitting environmental advocates against animal rights advocates.

There has been a licensed trapping program, which has also drawn criticism from the same groups.

FWC’s meeting will occur Dec. 5-7 in Gainesville. The monkey feeding rule is listed on the consent agenda, which will be considered on the first day of the meeting.