Background
(A citizens’ alliance dedicated to the preservation of
Sugarloaf Mountain has been formed and has its own website
)
At 323 feet above see level, Sugarloaf Mountain, located near route 561 between Astatula and Clermont, is the second highest elevation in Florida. Until the devastating freezes of the 1980’s, Sugarloaf was covered with citrus groves owned, in large part, by Willoughby T Cox Jr. and the Price family, all long-time residents of Lake County.
After the freezes made citrus impractical in that part of Lake County, the owners sought to convert their 1.433 acres of idle land into a planned community of 2,434 dwellings, two golf courses, and 120,000 sq. ft of commercial space.
Lake County’s managed-growth advocates and environmentalists (including the Lake County Conservation Council) led the fight against the proposed development. Their opposition was based on the irreparable changes which the development would bring to an area of Lake County which at that time had very few residents and a very limited infrastructure.
Had Lake County’s current Comprehensive Plan been in place, LCCC and its allies would have won their fight. The current Comp Plan clearly prohibits such intensive development in areas which have been designated as “rural.” Moreover, the Comp Plan also prohibits the creation of large communities in isolation from existing communities.
However, the regulations and restrictions of the current Comp Plan did not apply when the project was approved. There were many conditions to this approval, not the least of which was that the developers were required to have made substantial progress in the implementation of their plans within a specific period of time.
That period of time will be up on December 18, 2000. As of September, no work had begun at the site and the developers have asked for a five-year-minus-one-day extension of the permissions originally granted to them.
The developers believe that this extension should be granted without question and without hearings. LCCC and its traditional allies believe that in the absence of progress, hearings must be held and the original issues must be revisited -- under the regulations of the current Comprehensive Plan for Lake County. This time, LCCC has new allies in the form of new Lake County residents who have moved onto 5-acre-minimum homesteads in the Sugarloaf area.
For these new residents the debate over change is personal, not theoretical and the proverbial lines have been drawn in the sands of Sugarloaf Mountain.
On September 6, 2000, a hearing about the Sugarloaf Development was held before the Lake County P&Z Board. Lake County’s staffers presented their analysis of the situation and the recommendation which was to deny the extension sought by the prospective developers. The developers, in turn, presented their case. They were followed by over a dozen current Sugarloaf-area residents and speakers from LCCC and other growth-conscious organization.
At the end of the hearing, the P&Z Board took two votes. By 5 votes to 3, they voted in favor of a motion not extending the current development permits. But second motion to deny the extension was tied. This means that the P&Z Board, which functions as Lake County’s land-use review and oversight body, passed the Sugarloaf matter to the Board of County Commissioners without recommendation.
The Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to take up the Sugarloaf matter on September 26, 2000, though there is a good chance the developers will ask for a delay in hopes that a more amenable BCC will be seated after the November elections.
The analysis and recommendations of the Lake County staff are a public document which LCCC has chosen to make available here. While every effort has been made to insure that the transcription is accurate, mistakes may have been made and formatting is definitely lost in the translation of a typed document to the HTML format. True copies of the recommendations are available from the Lake County Department of Growth Management in Tavares.
Staff analysis and recommendations regarding the
Sugarloaf Development
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Lake County,
FL
