Court Rules for Polk County on Lake Wales CRA Expansion Case

Published: July 29, 2026

Bartow, Fla. (July 29, 2026) – The 10th Judicial Circuit Court issued an order Tuesday granting Polk County’s motion for summary judgment finding the City of Lake Wales’ plan to expand the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) invalid and rendered the CRA expansion void.

“This is a great order for Polk County. We believed this was an overreach by the City of Lake Wales to try and find an area recently approved for a large development as a blighted or slum area in order to include it in its CRA.” said County Attorney Randy Mink. “The county’s analysis showed, conservatively, that depending on the completion of the development, up to $155 million of county revenue would be funneled away from the county and into the CRA fund during the initial 30-year life of the expansion area.”

A CRA is a local government district created to revitalize economically distressed, disinvested, or blighted neighborhoods.
The case involved the City of Lake Wales’ decision to expand its CRA to include an additional 2,465 acres, essentially doubling the size of the CRA.

Of the 2,465 acres, approximately 75% or 1,841.5 acres were undeveloped land approved by city for 6,100 dwelling units alongside 400,000 square feet of commercial space, 125,000 square feet of office space, and 200,000 square feet of assisted living/public facilities space.

Mink credited the county’s outside counsel Jon Trohn, his team, and Assistant County Attorney Breezi Hicks with stopping the city’s overreach with the CRA.
“They did a great job handling this matter,” Mink said.

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Tags: City of Lake Wales, Court Case, CRA