STEVE COOVER

PARTNER

BIO

Steve grew up in the Midwest, moved to Sanford in 1980, and has practiced law in Central Florida since 1981 with Hutchison, Mamele & Coover, P.A. He and his wife Debbie have been married for 40 years. Debbie has been a volunteer for the American Cancer Society for over 25 years. They have 2 children; Ashley, who works for a large financial institution in San Francisco, and Philip, an investment banker in New York City. Both children attended Seminole County public schools in the IB program and the University of Florida. His hobbies are travel, fishing and golf.

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Steve has served as a member and as the chairman of the board of trustees for the Central Florida Regional Hospital, an HCA owned hospital. He has previously served as chairman of the Seminole County Charter Review Committee and as chairman of the City of Sanford Charter Review Committee. He is a past member and past president of the Rotary Club of Sanford Breakfast, and is also a past member of the Sanford Rotary Noon Club, with membership spanning over 25 years. He is currently a member of the Sanford Elks.

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Steve currently serves as a member of the Seminole County Board of Adjustment, which hears variances, conditional uses and special exceptions for Seminole County.

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EDUCATION
Steve attended Washburn University of Topeka, Kansas (BA, 1977) and Washburn University School of Law (JD, 1980).

CREDENTIALS:
Steve began a general practice in 1981 working in all areas of the law except marital, criminal and workers compensation. In 1991, he was appointed as general counsel for the Sanford Airport Authority, a governmental unit which operates the Orlando Sanford International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the State of Florida.

 

He co-authored all documents and handled all legal issues for the Authority, which in 1995 allowed the airport to convert from a general aviation airport to a commercial service airport (with a port of entry); all of this being done with a private entity as a partner of the Authority to develop the airport. This resulted in one of the first public private airports in the United States.

 

Over his career he has worked closely with the Federal Aviation Administration, US Homeland Security, US Customs and Immigration and other federal agencies, as well as with the Florida Dept. of Transportation, the St. John’s River Water Management District, the Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection and other state agencies. In 1998 he was appointed and served as interim airport director while also running his law practice, so the airport board could conduct a nationwide search for a new director. He served as general counsel for the Authority until 2005 and enjoyed his association with the airport’s board of directors and with other airport directors across the State of Florida.

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Steve was also appointed as general counsel for the Seminole County Port Authority in 1991, a position he continues to hold. The Authority is a governmental unit which operates the Port of Sanford, a 1,000 acres industrial business park in Seminole County.

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He has been handling all aspects of real estate, land use, corporate law, local government law, and all aspects of contract law in his 35 plus years in the practice. He does not handle litigation, except for commercial and residential foreclosure matters, quiet title suits, and some landlord tenant cases.

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He is currently a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar, the Florida Bar and the Seminole County Bar.