Lake Tracy, Haines City: The Ditch That Got Its Own Government

There is a unit of Florida government whose entire reason for existing is a ditch, and the ditch begins at the north end of Lake Tracy.

The Legislature created it in 1929, and it took two acts to do it. Chapters 13649 and 14517, Laws of Florida, together established Haines City Drainage District Number 1, covering a defined area on the western side of the Haines City corporate limits in Polk County. It was organized around a channel that meanders southerly along both the east and west sides of what is now U.S. Highway 27.

Ninety-seven years later the district is still in operation. It goes by Haines City Water Control District now, works under Chapter 2004-402, Laws of Florida, and under Chapters 189 and 298 of the Florida Statutes, and is run by a five-member board of supervisors. The job description has not broadened much since 1929: keep the ditch free of vegetation and anything else that restricts water draining into it from the adjoining uplands, and monitor development along or near the ditch that might affect the flow and discharge of water along it.

From the north end of Lake Tracy the ditch extends northerly and westerly, crosses to the west side of U.S. 27, then runs southerly, generally parallel with the highway, to a point where it crosses back to the east side. At the south end, below County Road 544, it bends southwest, passes under U.S. 27 a second time, and ends at an outfall into Middle Lake Hamilton — which is joined by canal on its west side to Lake Hamilton, 2,142 acres of open water.

The district is older than the highway its ditch crosses twice. The American Association of State Highway Officials approved extending U.S. 27 south from Tallahassee toward Miami on June 23, 1948, and the route reached Miami the following year — nineteen years after the Legislature chartered the district, and with the understanding at the time that the stretch from Leesburg south to Sebring would run on temporary routes.

The maintenance is paid for by the acre. The district's proposed budget for fiscal year 2022–2023 rested on 2,772 acres across 1,280 parcels, assessed at $50 per acre or any portion of an acre, for an estimated $145,000 including a $5-per-parcel collection cost. The fiscal year runs October 1 to September 30, with a tentative budget presented to the supervisors in August and the final budget approved in September. Chapter 298 of the Florida Statutes, one of the laws the district still answers to, measures a landowner's say in acres — one vote for every acre of assessable land owned in the district, cast in person or by written proxy.

Haines City counted 26,669 residents at the 2020 census, up more than a third from 2010. In 2021 the Southwest Florida Water Management District presented preliminary flood-prone area information for the Haines City watershed at a virtual public meeting and asked residents to help identify problem spots — a study funded by the water management district and the City of Haines City, intended for local floodplain management rather than for FEMA's flood insurance rate maps, though it may be used in future map updates.

Lake Tracy covers 100 acres, sits in the Peace River–Peace Creek Canal watershed, and carries the state water body identifier WBID 14921. Haines City keeps a small park on its shore at 123 McKay Drive with a paved public boat ramp and a grass area for trailer parking.

On June 29, 2026, at 5 p.m., the supervisors met in the offices of the Haines City Community Redevelopment Agency at 303 Ledwith Avenue to take public comment on the coming year's non-ad valorem assessments. The rate is still $50 an acre, or any portion of one.