Fort Meade, Lake Wales get state grants for improvements

Fort Meade will see improved internet access and Lake Wales will become safer for pedestrians through a pair of state grants the cities recently received.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity awarded Fort Meade $5 million to expand broadband access through a community development block grant. The state agency also designated nearly $1.2 million for Lake Wales to build and improve walkways in the Northwest Neighborhood through the same grant program.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office announced the grants in a recent news release as part of $15.6 million in funding to 10 cities and counties. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded funding to states to administer through grant programs intended to help local governments “prepare for, prevent, or respond to the health and economic impacts” of the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said.

In Florida, the DEO administered the funds, inviting cities and counties to submit applications for grants ranging from $200,000 to $5 million for a single program.

Fort Meade was the only municipality to receive a maximum grant of $5 million, DeSantis’ office said. The city will use the money to address historical broadband deficiencies, the news release said.

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The city has not yet received official confirmation of the grant and is still working out details of exactly how the money will be used, Assistant City Manager Maria Sutherland said. Plans call for providing six months of free internet service to at least 1,200 residents who qualify as low or low to moderate in income, she said. Fort Meade has about 6,200 residents.

Fort Meade applied for the grant in March 2021, before Sutherland joined the city’s staff.

In addition to providing some residents with temporary credits for internet service, Fort Meade officials want to use the remaining funds to improve its broadband capabilities. The city originally intended to apply the grant money toward installing fiber-optic lines, Sutherland said, but the technological options have changed since then.

The city is now considering the use of broadband-radio service, which would not require digging and working around existing underground infrastructure, Sutherland said.

The free internet service for residents would cost up $1.8 million, and the city foresees spending $400,000 on a consultant and another $400,000 on an engineer, Sutherland said. The remainder would be used for the installation of broadband equipment.

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Fort Meade is probably six months away from hiring a contractor, Sutherland said.

“One of the things that we are working through is, because this is such a novel type of program, all the kinks have not been removed in terms of the direction that will be provided to us,” she said. “We don't know who's going to actually own the lines. We've been told it's us. But if we own it, that means that we have to insure it. But the city is not in a position to be, you know, purveyors of internet (service).”

Though the grant might not be directly tied to public health, Americans with limited internet access have struggled during the pandemic as schools shifted to remote learning and public offices only offered online services.

“We are thrilled that it will be able to provide a level of upgrade and service to many of our residents,” Sutherland said. “I think it's a great program. We just hope that in the long term it meets the needs of those that truly need it and that it meets and improves the existing services that are out there.”

Sidewalks needed in Northwest Neighborhood

Lake Wales applied for a community development block grant after a member of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency noticed a listing on the Florida DEO website, City Manager James Slaton said.

The city already had plans to construct sidewalks and widen walkways in the Northwest Neighborhood as part of the Lake Wales Connected Plan. That is an open-ended, multi-million-dollar project intended to revitalize downtown businesses, beautify streetscapes and improve pedestrian routes between downtown and the Northwest Neighborhood.

The state grant will allow Lake Wales to install new sidewalks and repair existing ones in an area bounded by Florida Avenue to the north, Dr. J.A. Wiltshire Avenue to the south, G Street to the west and E Street to the east.

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The Northwest Neighborhood is one of the city’s oldest, platted in 1921, and has been predominantly home to Black residents since its founding. Some streets lack sidewalks or have only narrow walkways. On a recent morning, a Ledger photographer captured an image of a woman walking along the outer edge of F Street, a stretch of road with no sidewalk.

In applying for the pandemic relief grant, the city said that the additions and improvements to sidewalks would allow residents to practice social distancing and move more safely. The neighborhood contains two schools, Janie Howard Wilson Elementary and Roosevelt Academy.

“There's a lot of pedestrian foot traffic in the Northwest Community, including children walking to school and to the play area,” Slaton said. “And the area right now is underserved in terms of sidewalks.”

The city already planned to build new sidewalks and improve existing ones in the neighborhood as part of the Lake Wales Connected Plan, Slaton said.

“We thought, initially, this would be a multi-year, phased implementation,” Slaton said. “But this grant award is going to allow us to accelerate the construction of this project.”

Slaton said the city must offer the project for bids, but he expects construction to begin this year. He described the grant as “huge.”

“We exist to improve the quality of life for the residents inside our city limits,” Slaton said. “So this is an opportunity for us to accelerate, I'd say, that mission and that purpose. This is why we exist. So it means an awful lot.”

The broader revitalization plan focuses on the Northwest Neighborhood in other ways. The scheme, loosely based on a design created by famed planner Frederic Law Olsted Jr. nearly a century ago, calls for planting shade trees along streets to enhance visual appeal and a sense of community.

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The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency has begun a “housing rehabilitation” program in the Northwest Neighborhood through a partnership with the Keystone Challenge Fund, Polk County and SouthState Bank. The first two phases of project have resulted in the building of four single-family homes and the renovation of two others, city spokesman Eric Marshall said.

Construction of more houses is planned on A Street for the next phase, CRA Project Manager Darrell Starling said in a news release.

“Keystone lit the match that ignited the spark, and now the private sector is responding quickly,” Starling said in the release. “I can think of five developers right now who are either submitting permits or conducting surveys. We have a lot of activity that’s in motion.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Fort Meade, Lake Wales plan improvements after receiving state grants