“You cannot prevent growth from happening. You have to plan for it,” says Sebring Community Redevelopment Agency Board of Commissioners Chairman David Leidel.

The next growth he hopes to manage is his own as he seeks to the City Council for the Highlands County town.

Leidel, a former US Army paratrooper who works by day as a financial advisor at Swaine & Leidel Wealth Services, is in the home stretch of his Council campaign. Election Day will be March 10 and will determine which of six candidates – three incumbents and three challengers, like Leidel – will take seats on the dais this spring.

Perhaps befitting his military past, Leidel has a clear sense of his campaign’s mission: To bring controlled, sustainable growth for Sebring, avoiding the urban sprawl that plagues other rapidly growing Central Florida communities. The problem is especially acute as coastal affordability concerns cause people to move into Florida’s interior.

“We’re 90 minutes away from 85-90% of the population of Florida. It makes us very attractive,” Leidel explained. “We’ve got challenges when it comes to things like road, drainage, internet. If you look at some of the other communities that faced these challenges years ago, for instance Orlando, urban sprawl is a huge problem. They weren’t prepared for the growth they experienced.

“Some of the incumbents that are running are not focused on making the decisions that will move Sebring in the right direction,” continued Leidel. “We need strong decision-makers up there.”

Leidel sees himself as uniquely positioned to provide that strong decision-making ability. Leading the Sebring CRA, which is responsible for a redevelopment area centered on the city’s downtown, Leidel led efforts to revitalize Sebring’s downtown.

That included exploring how development was managed in other cities, like St. Petersburg, and introducing Tax Increment Financing for Sebring’s downtown, allowing the CRA to promote development and revitalization by borrowing against tax revenues realized when those efforts bear fruit in future years.

Most recently this has allowed the CRA to fund a daytime police presence in the downtown area, according to the Highlands News-Sun. Starting last December, this augments Sebring Police Department officers with Highlands deputy sheriffs in an effort to deter petty crime and panhandling.

“If you go downtown and like the fact that the buildings are occupied, if you like the fact that there’s a quasi-nightlife downtown; if you like the fact that we’ve been able to revitalize and save the downtown … people will see that, yes, I do understand how to make this part work,” he said.

“We can do the same thing for Sebring as a whole.”

While not explicitly endorsing any candidates in the race, Highlands County Commissioner Scott Kirouac praised Leidel. “I’ve known David for a number of years, and I think he’s a person of good character and good morals and good financial sense. He’s done a lot with the CRA in downtown Sebring that’s been very positive for Sebring and Highlands County.”

His colleague from the CRA, Executive Director Kristie Vazquez, agreed. “David and I have been working side by side for about the last eight years. He has been the transformational leader that every city could hope for … he made himself available in a way that, for somebody in a voluntary position, is not the norm.

“He just has a way of working with people that is able to make everybody that’s alongside him better than what they were. I truly do not think the progress we have made in downtown Sebring would have happened without him.”