More chain stores could come to rural crossroads in Polk County if change is approved

More dollar stores would be among the allowable uses at crossroads across Polk County's rural landscapes if the county commissioners gain state approval for changes the board decided to make to the county’s comprehensive plan.

On Tuesday, the County Commission unanimously approved the transmittal of a change to its land development plan for unincorporated Polk County. The changes will be sent for a compliance review to the Florida Department of Commerce, which will have the final say.

Before the County Commission voted, Polk County planner Mark J. Bennett shared a staff report with a favorable recommendation for the changes.

“These proposed changes will allow for the placement of commercial nodes at specific locations throughout the rural areas of the County in addition to existing Rural Cluster Centers (such as Homeland, Alturas, etc.),” he wrote.

“This change will meet the needs of residents, seasonal population, and travelers on the County’s regional road network, as the development pattern of the County today is different than it was when the Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 1991,” Bennett wrote.

Other findings in the staff report included:

• Rural Cluster Centers are characterized as serving as a focus for rural communities and generally contain public services, such as fire stations and schools, and retail-commercial uses that serve the surrounding population.

• “The need for this text amendment arose due to the oddly shaped RCC at the intersection of Boy Scout Road and SR 60, the increased truck traffic along SR 60, and the proximity of nearby residential uses and the Integrated Logistics Center in Winter Haven that is accessed off SR 60,” the report said.

• Other than that commercial cluster, the existing clusters all include residential and commercial.

• Further, the expansion of Dollar General and similar retail stores in rural areas of Polk County meet “a unique need in the market by providing shopping conveniences of both a retail store and a small department store.”

But the county-level approval did not sit well with some residents despite the absence of opposition during the public comments period at the meeting on Tuesday in Bartow.

“I could be wrong, but do the folks that have chosen to live in the most rural parts of Polk County want a Dollar General at qualifying collector road T-intersections near their homes?” said Sue Nelson via an email to a reporter.

A former Polk County planning commissioner, Nelson said residents who live on the north side of Lake Buffum were not happy about the change leading to a potential dollar store.

Nelson cited additional information contained deeper in the county’s staff report.

“Therefore, this text amendment is to allow the Rural Cluster Center land use district to establish new commercial nodes without any residential development where the commercial uses are supported by a wider market range to reflect the rural population levels in the RDA and capturing passing by traffic for all vehicle types."

About the passage, Nelson said, “We're going to introduce commercial and forever change our rural areas to capture passing (truck) traffic? Really?”

In other findings within the staff report, she questioned why Polk County was considering such a proposal.

"Based on research of other jurisdictions' Comprehensive Plans, the rural activity center concept is not used in many of our surrounding counties," the staff report said.

“Then why are we doing it?" Nelson said.

She sent a map of possible locations for the clusters.

“The map illustrates introducing commercial centers literally out in the middle of nowhere,” Nelson said. She said the changes to the county’s comprehensive plan raise too many questions.

"Our concern is over these proposed changes that will allow for the placement of commercial development at locations throughout the rural areas of our county," she said.

After the commission meeting, Bennett said by phone that the criteria under the new code would not allow rural commercial clusters within three miles of an existing cluster. And there must be at least 2,500 people living within a three-mile radius of each cluster.

On March 6, the Polk County Planning Commission is expected to review the first application under the new language. The proposal includes a Dollar General store about two miles east of Fort Meade at Brooke Road and U.S. 98.

Google Maps shows the Fowler’s Grocery store and some gas pumps to the west of the T-intersection with pasture on other sides of U.S. 98. Attempts to reach the owner of the grocery store were unsuccessful. The New Beginning Church of God sits further east along the highway.

The proposal is expected to contain a request for a land use change for 1.69 acres. The land, currently zoned for phosphate mining-agricultural residential rural land use within a rural development area, would be changed to a rural cluster center.

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A staff report is under development for that project so it is unavailable for now. But according to Bennett, the report will contain an analysis that the project “would comply” with the new text in the county’s comprehensive plan.

With a recommendation for or against the dollar store, the County Commission could take action to approve or reject the project at its regularly scheduled meeting set for April 16.

The application submitted for the dollar store near Fort Meade was not mentioned during Tuesdays’ commission meeting.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk Commission could allow commercial hubs in agricultural areas