Lake Bonnet project includes dredging

Governor Ron DeSantis announced last week nearly $150 million in grants through the Department of Economic Opportunity’s (DEO) Rebuild Florida program for local governments to develop large-scale infrastructure projects and make communities more resilient to future disasters.

The funds are allocated to the state through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) program formed in response to the 2016 to 2017 presidentially declared disasters.

“My administration remains committed to providing the resources necessary for Florida communities to build back stronger and be more resilient to future storms,” said Governor DeSantis. “This transformational mitigation funding will go a long way in helping Florida’s communities invest in their futures through critical infrastructure improvements.”

Under this program, the City of Lakeland will receive almost $43 million for the Bonnet Springs Park stormwater infrastructure project.

As DeSantis said, the funding for Bonnet Springs will be used for stormwater infrastructure to improve the park’s drainage basin. The project includes engineering, dredging, water treatment, flood protection and cleaning up a lake at the site.

“We are honored to have Governor DeSantis here in Lakeland to award grant funding for this extraordinary and transformative project. The scope of this project mitigates flooding in a traditionally underserved community, cleans one of Florida’s most impaired waterbodies, and prevents polluted stormwater runoff from flowing through the City of Lakeland to Tampa Bay,” commented Senator Kelli Stargel (R-Lakeland), Chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations.

The project will be initiated over the next several months and the overall project is expected to be completed over a 10-year period.