Destination Polk City

POLK CITY — Sometime in the near future, travelers passing through Polk City may find reason to pull off the highway for more than a coffee break.

They may be lured by a boardwalk stroll through the Green Swamp, or invited to toss a minnow into Lake Agnes in search of lunker bass.

Residents, too, are integral to this future scenario, which envisions enhanced park amenities and a more vibrant downtown with numerous special events and scenic walkways connecting playgrounds, parks and city facilities.

Leaders of this small, rural town just north of Interstate 4 are grappling with growth fueled by an abundance of developable real estate in close proximity to I-4 and in striking distance of Tampa and Orlando. In addition to its close proximity to Florida Polytechnic University, Polk City abuts the suburban sprawl creeping northward from Auburndale, creating a potential customer base to help drive business.

Planning for the inevitable influx of new residents, and the business development likely to follow, has been in the works for months with help from a grant from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Since early November, with assistance from the Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Polk City's leaders have been developing a strategy for economic growth. An early draft that includes a park and recreation master plan was unveiled recently during a City Commission work session.

“This is a culmination of conversations with the community; it's starting a road map for the future economic development of the city,” said Jennifer Codo-Salisbury, the planning council's deputy director, who led commissioners through a PowerPoint presentation of a 54-page document.

A key aspect of the plan is to develop Polk City as a hub for ecotourism, capitalizing on access to the Green Swamp, which spans some 880 square miles of largely unspoiled wilderness. Considered the state's second-largest wetlands system after the Everglades, the swamp serves as headwaters for five rivers: Hillsborough, Kissimmee, Ocklawaha, Peace and Withlacoochee.

Paved and nearly straight as an arrow, the Gen. James A. Van Fleet State Trail begins close to Polk City's Freedom Park near downtown and ends some 30 miles to the north at State Road 50 just west of Groveland in Lake County.

The Van Fleet trail connects with the city of Auburndale by way of the Auburndale TECO Trail. Ultimately, the Van Fleet will connect with the Florida Greenways and Trails System, which is in various stages of development to allow hikers and bikers access to many destinations throughout the state.

Planners envision marketing Polk City as a way station along the trail system and promoting area lakes and other natural amenities, all to build tourism and attract businesses such as bike rentals, restaurants and stores selling supplies for navigating the great outdoors.

Despite a proliferation of new houses and warehouses, including Best Buy's newly built 650,808-square-foot distribution center fronting State Road 33 at Mount Olive Road, Polk City suffers from a number of empty retail properties.

Finding new tenants is a priority for Polk City Commissioner Don Kimsey, who adopted a hopeful tone at Monday's work session. “We're pretty well set with houses; we've got people,” but buildings are sitting empty, he said.

The nearby Fantasy of Flight aviation attraction was a potential boon to economic growth but that fizzled in 2015 when owner Kermit Weeks closed the facility to the public. The attraction, complete with a museum of vintage aircraft, has continued to market itself for special events, and the museum will reopen to visitors on June 15 on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday schedule through July.

Other business operators in Polk City remain optimistic of the city's future, including Joel Vann, whose Polk City BBQ Company has become a downtown destination for locals.

"We're happy with Polk City, we're definitely in this for the long haul," said Vann, who also operates restaurants in Lakeland and Dundee. December marks the third year for his Polk City store, which saw an 11 percent increase in sales over the past year, a positive sign of growth, he said.

Last summer, Vann organized a watermelon festival that attracted more than 1,300 people on a rainy day. "There's definitely a lot of growth," he said.

Polk City Mayor Joe LaCascia said the completion of a master plan for economic growth will prove a powerful marketing tool for future development, adding that the spurt of residential construction has already generated interest from the greater business community.

“There are businesses watching,” he said, “(but) the demographics have to come first. ... It's going to be evolution, not revolution. I think we're on the right track.”

Eric Pera can be reached at eric.pera@theledger.com or 863-802-7528.