POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Some would call the rural community in Polk County just west of Lake Hatchineha the middle of nowhere, but Glenn Lawhorn has a different name for it.
“This is the end of the earth,” he said of his community, which is at the very end of Lake Hatchineha Road.
But even the “end of the earth” is growing, and soon, part of the rural area — southeast of Haines City — could look a lot different.
A developer wants to construct 1,876 new homes on a 1,269-acre property north of Lake Hatchineha Road and east of Marigold Avenue as part of a project known as Creek Ranch.
“It’s going to be a nightmare,” Lawhorn said.
Neighbors like Lawhorn have the usual concerns about traffic, drainage, and how the project would strain the area’s infrastructure. They have another worry, too.
The land is adjacent to several conservation lands — including Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge and Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek Preserve State Park — which are part of Florida's Wildlife Corridor, a vital pathway for animals like the endangered Florida panther in a state that’s losing more and more natural areas to development.
“There’s everything out here,” Lawhorn said. “Everything. We’ve had panthers out here. Black bear. Deer. Turkeys. Squirrels. Sand skinks. Gopher [tortoises].”
He said a panther was documented on camera last year not far from where the homes would be built.
According to a map published by the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation, the area is part of a narrow “bottleneck” along the wildlife corridor, which spans the length of the state from the Everglades to the Panhandle. Lawhorn fears development near Lake Hatchineha will constrict that already narrow bottleneck.
“It wipes it out,” he said. “Absolutely destroys it.”
In a Polk County Planning Commission meeting on Aug. 2, Bart Allen, an attorney for the property owner and applicant, pointed out that a natural buffer — 1.2 miles wide at its widest point — would be left just east of the neighborhood. He also mentioned that the area north of the proposed neighborhood in Poinciana is already developed.
“We believe this project is compatible. It’s compatible with the development to the west and the north. It provides 600 acres — almost 600 acres — to the east of buffer,” Allen said.
He also said the developer will improve the site’s drainage and implement appropriate traffic measures.
The Planning Commission recommended the project’s approval in a narrow 4-3 vote.
Tuesday, the Polk County Board of County Commissioners will hold a public hearing to consider an appeal to the Planning Commission’s decision.
Lawhorn hopes commissioners will see things differently and ultimately record a vote against the development.
“They won’t ever stop until somebody puts their foot down — our elected officials — and say no more. We can’t keep doing this,” he said.
