Lakeland officials have approved a deal that will clear the way for development of the historic Wedgewood Golf Course despite residents’ opposition over traffic impacts.
City commissioners voted 6-1 on May 18 to approve a development agreement with Mulberry-based SJD Development LLC to construct a maximum of 825 units on the former golf course. In exchange, the city will receive donated parcels of land for future roadway improvements and approximately $423,000 to help fund them.
“If you go back and and derail the negotiations that have occurred to today with the lower unit count and right-of-way dedications that are essential to fulfilling the 2008 analyses paid for by the city, I don’t think you are going to get a better result,” said Chuck Barmby, Lakeland’s traffic and development review manager. “It sends a message to larger master planned developments that we are not looking at these projects comprehensively.”
Under the deal, SJD Development will donate land to the city along the southern edge of the former golf course, near I-4, for the future extension of Lakeland Park Center Drive to the east of Carpenters way. It will donate a second parcel to allow the realignment of Wedgewood Estates Boulevard with Heatherpoint Drive at Carpenters Way in a four-point intersection. It will pay more than $423,000 toward future traffic improvements.
“I hear everyone’s concern about how to to do this. Every day we talk about roads, today is the cheapest day, tomorrow will be more expensive. If we have a developer coming along saying we’ll do ‘x” amount and part of these agreements, it’s never going to be perfect…” Mayor Sara Roberts McCarley said. “There are these little mitigation efforts along the way that make it a little more palatable for us to work with.”
Residents call for new traffic study, citing ongoing concerns
Fairfield on the Tee resident Cindy Mitchell, who works as a senior transportation planner for the Polk Transportation Planning Organization, urged commissioners to reject the proposed agreement. She called for a new traffic study, as the original one was done in 2022 with some updates in early 2025.
“As this board is well aware, the traffic conditions around Carpenters Way have changed dramatically as Polk County’s Population has surged. There’s been no standard formula that has been able to perpetuate the number of trips that come through that road, especially not one developed years ago,” Mitchell said. “The result is the assumptions built into the 2022 study no longer reflect the reality we residents experience every day.”
Beverly Copeland Inman, a 26-year resident of Carpenters Way, cited a high number of tickets for speeding since Lakeland Park Center Drive opened. Inman also said during morning and evening rush hours, emergency vehicles face difficulty getting through to nearby assisted living facilities.
“We appreciate the fact the developer went from 973 to 825 units. That does not relieve the congestion we currently have on Carpenters Way,” she said.
Commissioner Terry Coney called the current congestion of Carpenters Way the “elephant in the room” that was not being addressed as part of the traffic mitigation plan.
“Many, many, many years ago, we got boxed in because we put a little, narrow road,” Coney said, citing the nearby shopping centers and residential growth. “If that community never came, we’d still have a traffic problem on Carpenters Way.”
Barmby said he thinks the traffic congestion on Carpenters Way is a matter of addressing chokepoints at specific intersections and addressing traffic signal timing. Specifically, the traffic signal at U.S. 98 North and the intersection at Corporate Avenue.
Widening Carpenters Way with additional lanes would not solve traffic problems, Barmby said, but would have a negative impact.
“Widening lanes or adding lanes on Carpenters Way will have a detrimental impact to the neighborhoods, dividing a community with a multilane roadway that accommodates more and faster trips,” he said.
In addition, Barmby said widening Carpenters Lane would require The Arch, a locally designated historic feature, to be modified or moved.
Coney said the arch has been moved before, and whether or not to move it to improve the roadway should be left to local residents.
Barmby stressed that part of the mitigation plan is to improve connectivity through Lakeland Park Center Drive West, providing an alternative east-west corridor to bring some traffic off of Carpenters Way. The city does not have any funds currently budgeted for the construction of this project.
Commissioner Guy LaLonde was the sole vote against the developer agreement, citing the need for a new traffic study.
How many houses are coming?
As part of the agreement, SJD Development has agreed to decrease the maximum number of units from 973 approved in December 2025 to 825.
The proposed change would increase the number of single-family attached homes, from 212 to 394 townhomes. In return, the developer would cut the number of multi-family apartments nearly in half from 700 to 370.
This change, considered a minor modification, will go before the city’s Planning and Zoning Board at 9 a.m. Tuesday for final approval and any terms or conditions that may be set.
When will construction begin?
Before SJD Development can begin construction, Barmby said the developer will need to obtain utility capacity reservations by working with the city’s water and wastewater services. There would need to be design work for the utility infrastructure to move forward, Barmby said.
The development also needs to undergo the city’s site plan and subdivision process, requiring significant engineering work and permits from Southwest Florida Water Management District — commonly called Swiftmud.
Several residents expressed concerns about stormwater issues moving forward as some of the golf course’s existing communities relied on drainage systems that emptied into the former golf course lakes and ponds.
Don Hamilton, a Derby Drive homeowner, said the developer has failed to maintain the golf course’s ponds, causing the collapse of his property’s seawall and damaging his pool and home.
“I’ve lost all hope the developer would do something about it,” he said. “No one in two and a half years has contacted me to event talk about it.”
Issues regarding future stormwater management would be a technical decision later in the process done in accordance with city staff and Swiftmud.
Barmby said the developers will be required to meet the current state standards for stormwater retention with a modern design.
The developer will only be allowed to put shovels in the ground and build upward once these water, wastewater and stormwater retention permits are obtained with an approved site plan.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland OKs Wedgewood development deal despite concerns about roads
Reporting by Sara-Megan Walsh, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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