PCC Considers Three Sites For New Campus

WINTER HAVEN | Three pieces of property near U.S. 27 and Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center are in the running to become Polk Community College's northeast campus.

PCC President Eileen Holden and other PCC officials said they hope appraisals are done in time to recommend a top choice when the board of trustees meets in Lakeland on Sept. 22.

The money to buy land, as well as do appraisals, comes from about $2.7 million that state lawmakers set aside to be used for establishing a Northeast Polk campus ,and the money may be spent for that purpose only , Holden said.

JML Land owns two of the properties.

One is on the east side of U.S. 27 at Ridgewood Lakes Boulevard. It combines three parcels to make about 15 acres. Zoned for commercial use, it has frontage on U.S. 27.

The other JML property, shaped on a map like a jagged question mark, is about 600 feet east of U.S. 27 with Ridgewood Lakes Boulevard as its northern boundary. It is about 41 acres, in three parcels, and is zoned residential high density.

The JML sites are about one mile northeast of Heart of Florida, said George Urbano, PCC's facilities director.

Another property owner, Civix, is offering two small parcels that would be considered as one site for purchase.

One is about 3.1 acres within an existing Civix medical development at U.S. 27 and Massee Road, south of Heart of Florida on the west side of U.S. 27. A parcel of about 1.25 acres is south of the other Civix property. Both are zoned as commercial property.

If PCC chose the Civix option, the small size of the land would mean a building of 10 to 12 floors. With the larger JML sites, there could be multiple buildings with heights of three to five stories, Holden said.

Either way, Holden doesn't envision future campuses having the sprawling design of the college's Winter Haven campus.

"I think PCC's growth in the future is going to be urban design," Holden said.

Urban design is a multi-story, small-footprint concept, Urbano said.

"It allows you to locate on a smaller footprint and travel upward to whatever height limits are permissible," he said.

PCC now provides some college classes at Ridge Community High School in Davenport. Extensive growth in that area makes having a campus there increasingly important to PCC.

Its officials also want to acquire property now, while housing construction is slow, to get the best deal possible.

Civix originally offered a larger property of slightly more than 50 acres of which only 12 acres were buildable, Urbano said. PCC found that site had restrictions because of the Green Swamp and 100-year flood plain.

At that time, PCC began negotiating for another location - part of a 48.7 acre working citrus grove, owned by Cassidy Homes - that's about four miles south of Interstate 4 and about 2,800 feet east of U.S. 27. Cassidy asked a much higher price than the land was appraised for, college officials said, and those talks fell through.

Holden said she is excited about having more choices.

"I want to see all three of these (new sites) with the appraisals so I can make a recommendation to the board that is the best use of public money," she said.

[ Robin Williams Adams can be reached at robin.adams@theledger.com or 863-802-7558. ]