Pro-Development Politicians Poised to Oust Anti-Growth County Manager

Debra Stivender, a former county building department employee and an elected commissioner for only four months, is leading a coup to oust Sue Whittle, the 56-year-old, $114,000-a-year county manager, an acknowledged slow-growth proponent during her six-year stint here.

Stivender maintains she has three of the four votes needed from the five-member county commission to terminate Whittle. The showdown vote is April 17 at a public hearing but the commissioners could resolve the battle at today's open session (April 10) if they choose to do so.

Whittle, a former county administrator in Palm Beach county, tells GlobeSt.com through representatives, her only sin in managing the county's affairs for six years is not giving preferential treatment to developers and builders who financed the campaigns of Stivender, freshman commissioner Jennifer Hill and longtime Realtor and commissioner Catherine Hanson.

"Whittle follows the book and because of that often is a thorn in the side of developers, builders and commercial entrepreneurs," Whittle representatives tell GlobeSt.com.

Stivender, however, tells GlobeSt.com, through representatives, she never asks that developers be handled with kid gloves but insists that all residents who deal with the county on zoning, permit and land issues be given equal treatment and not singled out just because one project is larger or smaller than another.

"She (Stivender) was especially ticked off on the Sugarloaf Mountain, Harbor Hills and Duke Energy projects that were shot down in recent months" by county planners, allegedly following directions from Whittle, Stivender representatives tell GlobeSt.com.

Sugarloaf Mountain was a $1 billion, 2,440-unit multifamily and single-family mixed-use development proposed by three Orlando investors on 350-foot high Sugarloaf Mountain near Clermont, 25 miles west of Downtown Orlando.

Harbor Hills is an existing single-family/multifamily community in Lady Lake, FL that wanted to expand by 1,400 shelter units. The value of the new construction was estimated at $750 million. Lady Lake is 45 miles northwest of Orlando.

Charlotte-based Duke Energy Corp. walked away from Lake County and took its planned $180 million power plant project for Eustis, FL with it after county planners allegedly gave the North Carolina company the cold shoulder. Eustis is 30 miles northwest of Downtown Orlando.

County planners maintain the three projects weren't right for Lake County at this time because the county didn't have adequate infrastructure in place to service the new businesses.

Besides having worked for the county's building department Stivender is a former private business consultant who advised developers and builders on obtaining construction permits and filing zoning and land-use change applications.

Stivender contends she has commissioners Hill, Hanson and Bob Pool in her corner when she strides to the podium at today's general discussion session on the issue at the Lake County public chambers. The fifth commissioner, Welton Cadwell, a commercial property owner himself, is backing the county manager.

Besides Whittle, the Stivender group also wants to terminate deputy county manager Alvin Jackson, emergency services director Tad Stone and a third undisclosed department head.

If the county manager is fired, the entire planning and zoning board, alleged by Stivender to be fiercely anti-development, could be replaced quickly by a majority commission vote, county insiders tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity.