Heavy rains create sewage backups with increasing frequency in Wilton Manors. Fixes are expensive and take time, but the city is making progress.

There’s an unexpected twist, or tryst, in Wilton Manors’ years-long dream of getting a hotel in the city.

Any resident or frequent visitor to Wilton Manors likely drives past it at least once a week and never notices or thinks twice. It sits unassumingly nestled among the trees in Richardson Park on Wilton Drive. We’re talking about the Carriage House, which is the first building you drive past when you enter the parking lot.

Five years after the city reworked its zoning codes to encourage development, commissioners are admitting they didn’t go far enough. There are no major projects on any of the targeted areas known as transit-oriented corridors or TOCs.

Three longstanding restaurants along Wilton Drive are saying goodbye. Wilton Creamery, New York Grilled Cheese, and now Palmyra are all shuttering by the new year.

Wilton Manors is a progressive city that’s seeing a lot of progress in its livability. But there’s little to no progress in creating more places for people to actually live. Five years and counting since the city adjusted its code to be more friendly to developers, and there are still no major projects underway.