Lakeland seeks relief from rumble of low-flying jets
LAKELAND The rumble of jet engines may mean money for Lakeland, but even city officials are seeking relief from noise of low-flying cargo planes at night.
Commissioner Stephanie Madden said she s received numerous complaints from Lakeland residents about the roar of low-flying jet engines. I m supposed to hear a cash register chinging money every time someone complains about Amazon s planes, she said. But I ve still heard complaints.
Amazon Air began operations at its 285,000-square-foot cargo hub at Lakeland Linder International Airport in late July. It has gradually ramped up to eight flights daily, according to the company, consisting of three Boeing 767s and five Boeing 737 freighters.
A major reason? Academy alumnus Cole Harris.
Harris, who graduated in 2015, recently opened Central Florida Aircraft Services, a full-service aircraft maintenance company. Harris, 23, operates the company out of a hangar at Lakeland Linder International Airport. Central Florida Aerospace Academy was great, Harris said. Nobody in my family is involved in aviation, so if I hadn t gone to school there, there s no way I would be doing what I do today.
Airport Director Gene Conrad said Harris is the first academy graduate to open his own business at Lakeland Linder. [Cole] brought everything full circle, Conrad said.
Although Harris was on the pilot track at the academy, he started working for Aircraft Engineering Inc. in Bartow while still in high school. Harris shifted around a few other maintenance companies and discovered he could make a pretty good career in maintenance rather than flying.
LAKELAND The only neighbors Billy Friend has dwelling behind his house either have four legs or wings. And that’s how Friend would prefer it to stay.
He and other residents of the Medulla Road area of southwest Lakeland live on lots averaging about five acres. They now see their bucolic lifestyle threatened by the proposed English Creek subdivision, which would place 85 houses on about 45 acres.
The proposed development, with a planned entrance near Medulla Road and Hamilton Road, would worsen existing problems of flooding and inadequate roads, Friend and other residents say. At its meeting Tuesday, the Lakeland Planning and Zoning Board will consider a major modification of the Morgan Creek Preserve planned unit development to approve the project.