During the public comment period, Lake Wales resident Charlene Bennett urged the commission to stop granting waivers of strict compliance to the city’s PDP guidelines, saying the waivers enable large national builders and land speculators to produce housing that does not fit the city’s character.

Bennett listed builders she said are active in the area — Lennar, D.R. Horton, KB Homes, Holiday Homes and Century Homes — and argued that many large builders bring in-house mortgage and insurance products that make new-construction sales easier than resales, shifting economic benefits out of Lake Wales. "We are not obligated to oil his land speculation," she told commissioners, urging strict adherence to PDP rules so the final product better matches Lake Wales' vision.

Bennett also praised local builders that, she said, were delivering alternatives to national models and called for city enforcement that would limit waivers to situations where the final product is demonstrably better than strict compliance would produce.

Commissioners did not take formal action on the comments during the meeting; the remarks were delivered as public comment and were not framed as an agenda-driven staff presentation or ordinance change during the session.