TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

County Backs Popular Vote In Sun 'N Lake

ADVERTISEMENT

By Jim  Konkoly | Highlands Today

Published: June 3, 2008

SEBRING – The Highlands County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to support the Sun 'N Lake of Sebring residents who filed a lawsuit to have their five-person governing body elected by residents.

If the judge rules for the plaintiffs in the suit, the decision would take control of the Sun 'N Lake governing board away from the companies that own the thousands of vacant lots and, under the current rules, hold a 3-2 majority on the board.

At the urging of county commissioners Andy Jackson and Barbara Stewart, the commissioners passed a resolution saying they support the lawsuit filed by the association representing Sun 'N Lake residents.
The county also might enter this legal fight on the side of the residents seeking to put control of the governing board in the hands of residents.

The decision on whether to do that is likely in one or two weeks, after county Attorney Ross Macbeth reviews the lawsuit and applicable law and makes a recommendation to commissioners.

"We should support the popular vote in Sun 'N Lake," said Jackson, the commissioners' liaison to Sun 'N Lake, the large special taxing district off U.S. 27 between Sebring and Avon Park.

Supporting the popular vote means taking control of the governing board from the companies owning vast track of undeveloped lots. The largest landowner, National Recreational Properties Inc., of Irvine, Calif., owns thousands of vacant lots.

Stewart said the commissioners should go further than the resolution and intervene by filing a "friend of the court" brief supporting the position of homeowners who want to take control away from the landowners.

"It's important that we move ahead," Stewart said, "because this thing has been dragging along for so long."

She was referring to the dissatisfaction of many Sun 'N Lake residents that their governing board is controlled by companies, not by the people who live there.

Under the current rules, each lot owner, not each voting-age resident, gets one vote in the election of the board of supervisors. Lot owners elected three of the five seats.

The charter for Sun 'N Lakes spells out that when a certain percentage of the lots are developed into homes and occupied, the balance of power shifts, with residents getting three of the five seats while the landowners are reduced to just two seats.

The pending lawsuit, which the county commissioners expressed public support for, claims that the requirements have been met to transfer majority control from the landowners to the homeowners.

Dick Miller, a board member of the Sun 'N Lake Property Owners Association, said he hopes the commissioners do more in support of the lawsuit than pass a resolution.

"We want formal support from the board (of commissioners)," he said. In previous weeks, all five commissioners have privately said they back the lawsuit, Miller said.

"The people out there need to take control," said Joe Eck, a Sun 'N Lake resident. He asked the county commissioners and the county attorney to be "a friendly advisor" for the homeowners' lawsuit.

Macbeth said that, after researching the lawsuit and state laws that apply to it, he recommend "whether to do anything (legally in the pending lawsuit) or to stay on the sidelines."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT