An addition to Wildwood Middle High School and improvements to several city parks are among the highlights of a five-year capital improvement plan presented Monday to the Wildwood Planning & Zoning Board.
The plan, which is reviewed annually and includes 36 projects for the period of 2014 through 2019, was recommended for approval by Special Magistrate Archie Lowry Jr.
It requires adoption by the Wildwood City Commission and includes projects that are funded by other agencies such as the Florida Department of Transportation and the Sumter County School Board as well as those paid for through grants and city revenues.
A $2-million, 13,341-square-foot high school addition, scheduled for construction this year, will add three classrooms and 70 student stations, according to the plan. Other school projects include $100,000 for expansion of the football press box and $300,000 for bleachers.
The city will use grant money to pay for a new football and soccer field at Martin Luther King Park along with new signage, playground equipment, trash receptacles and a picnic table. A $50,000 grant also will pay for new picnic tables, a softball field and signage as well as renovation of the T-ball fields, playground, parking area and restrooms.
A grant application is pending to renovate Oxford Park’s basketball court, tennis court, playground and picnic area. It will fund new picnic pavilions, playground equipment and water fountain improvements.
More than $26 million in local transportation projects include improvements to the Florida Turnpike and the interchange at U.S. 301, widening of County Road 468 along with partial construction of a new turnpike interchange and the improvements to County Road 466A, which are nearly complete.
Three drainage projects are planned at Oak Park Village, Sunset Park and Young Circle, which will be funded with Community Development Block Grants. Another $180,000 was allocated for renovation of the former library to house the Public Works Department and construction of a storage shed.
No improvements are planned for the wastewater treatment system, although it sometimes operates at a deficit during peak demand, said city development services director Melanie Peavy. Well improvemnts are included for the fresh water system.
“The total water system should have sufficient capacity to meet anticipated growth in the next five years,” Peavy said.
