Stuart Avenue is set to receive new landscaping, rain gardens, outdoor seating and broadened pedestrian walkways in select areas.
Four sections of sidewalk space along Stuart Avenue will be reshaped to accommodate different uses, such as outdoor dining or café seating, public art and temporary outdoor exhibits and vendors.
City staff and crews recently worked a 17-hour shift, preparing the easement with proper irrigation.
“Irrigation is very important for plants to get established, so they flourish and thrive,” Kevin Polk, city horticulturist recently told the city.
Crews created 27 holes for irrigation, installing roughly 1,500 linear feet of piping.
“We’ve got a classic landscape planned with azaleas, camellias and gardenias,” Polk noted.
The traditional slanted parking spaces along Stuart Avenue between First Street and Scenic Hwy will remain.
An additional 180 parking spaces will soon be available on the west side of Stuart Avenue near the intersection of First Street and Stuart Avenue, adjacent to the Walesbilt Hotel.
*info and photo courtesy of City of Lake Wales
