{"id":61767,"date":"2026-01-26T21:10:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T02:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=61767"},"modified":"2026-01-26T21:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T02:10:10","slug":"its-been-said-that-fear-shouldnt-be-a-factor-in-considering-land-uses-changes-in-polk-county-by-elected-commissioners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/01\/26\/its-been-said-that-fear-shouldnt-be-a-factor-in-considering-land-uses-changes-in-polk-county-by-elected-commissioners\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been said that fear shouldn\u2019t be a factor in considering land uses changes in Polk County by elected Commissioners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s consider the application for Mammoth Grove Mine, an 855-acre sand mining operation a few miles east of Lake Wales, north and south of Highway 60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not fear but an observed fact that Hwy 60 east of Lake Wales is already a dangerous traffic corridor with heavy trucks from Citrosuco juice plant and CEMEX sand mine taking their lane when entering and exiting the highway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now consider adding conservative estimates of 500+ trucks per day to Hwy 60 if Mammoth Grove Mine is approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should there be concern of increase in traffic accidents due to a substantial increase in daily truck traffic?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not a fear factor but observed fact for those who travel Hwy 60 east of Lake Wales and recognize the threat to public safety of hundreds more sand trucks on the road if the Polk County Commission approves the conditional use permit (for 65 years!) of Mammoth Grove Mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A public hearing is scheduled in Bartow on March 17, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CALL, EMAIL, AND WRITE TODAY!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NO TO LDCU-2025-29!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polk County Commissioners AND Planner Contact Information:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The 5 Polk County Commissioners are elected officials who EACH vote on the #LDCU<\/a>-2025-29 Appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

District 1: Becky Troutman, Commissioner, (863) 534-6450, BeckyTroutman@polkfl.gov<\/p>\n\n\n\n

District 2: Rick Wilson, Commissioner, (863) 534-6434, RickWilson@polkfl.gov<\/p>\n\n\n\n

District 3: Bill Braswell, Vice Chair, Commissioner, (863) 534-6050, BillBraswell@polkfl.gov<\/p>\n\n\n\n

District 4: Martha Santiago, Ed.D., Chair, Commissioner, (863) 534-6422, MarthaSantiago@polkfl.gov<\/p>\n\n\n\n

District 5: Michael Scott, Commissioner, (863) 534-6049, MichaelScott@polkfl.gov<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polk County Planner in Charge: Ivan Nance, (863) 534-6449, IvanNance@polkfl.gov<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Website link for Polk County Commissioners (includes their biographies, district maps, etc.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.polk-county.net\/…\/board-of-county…<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mailing Address for Correspondences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polk County Board of Commissioners, 330 W. Church St., Drawer BC01, P.O. Box 9005, Bartow, FL 33831-9005<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AND TO: Polk County Planning Commission, Attn: Ivan Nance, Planner, Land Development, 330 W. Church Street, Bartow, FL 33830<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Sand Mine in Lake Wales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Really? Let\u2019s consider the application for Mammoth Grove Mine, an 855-acre sand mining operation a few miles east of Lake Wales, north and south of Highway 60. It\u2019s not fear… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"14","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDFcLzEyMjAzMzM3NjU2ODg0OTA5MDgzLndlYnA_Zml0PTUwMCUyQzI2MSZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6Ikl0XHUyMDE5cyBiZWVuIHNhaWQgdGhhdCBmZWFyIHNob3VsZG5cdTIwMTl0IGJlIGEgZmFjdG9yIGluIGNvbnNpZGVyaW5nIGxhbmQgdXNlcyBjaGFuZ2VzIGluIFBvbGsgQ291bnR5IGJ5IGVsZWN0ZWQgQ29tbWlzc2lvbmVycyIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.oPcuyEH-mmo5zumU9uh4jCiSs4mnutdlmXPaDcaMyIMMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":61768,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/12203337656884909083.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[13367],"class_list":["post-61767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-its-been-said-that-fear-shouldnt-be-a-factor-in-considering-land-uses-changes-in-polk-county-by-elected-commissioners"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61767"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61769,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61767\/revisions\/61769"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}