Robert Stuart won’t seek another term on Orlando City Council

Orlando City Councilman Robert Stuart has decided not to run for another term, ending a nearly 20-year run on the board, he said Thursday.

Orlando’s City Council is getting reshaped with Mayor Buddy Dyer not seeking another term and several longtime elected officials stepping down.

Stuart, who will be 72 when his fifth term ends this year, said he is ready to spend more time with his grandchildren and do more volunteering with Rotary Club.

“There are some things that I’d like to do that politics keep me from doing,” he said in an interview Thursday with Florida Politics. “It’s also 19 years … I’d love to serve forever, but you got a lot of people that want to run — I kind of want to let them.”

Stuart contended it is time to give others the opportunity to represent District 3, which includes the bustling neighborhoods of College Park and Baldwin Park.

Aaron Lewis and Samuel Chambers and Mira Tanna have filed to run for District 3 so far.

Stuart called being on the council “the honor of my professional life.”

Stuart said he wanted to be remembered for being accessible to his constituents and supporting the city’s Main Street programs in College Park, Audubon Park, Ivanhoe Village, and Mills50. He also was proud of his service as the city’s representative on the board of Florida League of Cities.

“When I look back over my life, I’d like to be able to say, ‘Gosh, I really made a difference —  not in just Orlando, but really throughout the entire state,’” Stuart said.

He touted the changes the city has undergone since he was elected in 2006 from SunRail and major venues opening, the city’s investment in parks and more. Baldwin Park, which Stuart described as once “a vision and a lot of vacant dirt” is now prospering and a model for other development.

When Stuart first ran for office, he remembered, “Children grew up in Orlando, they always went someplace else. … Orlando was, for the longest time, a transient community.”

That’s changed, Stuart said. 

Now, “Orlando has its own identity. Kids are staying here,” Stuart said. “That is the greatest compliment we can have.”

In the remaining months of his term, Stuart said he hopes to finish several big projects, including redoing the lakefront at Lake Fairview and improving College Park’s Albert and Dartmouth parks.

“I want to get them done,” Stuart said. “I don’t want to leave them hanging.”

Stuart retired from his job as executive director of the Christian Service Center for Central Florda nonprofit in 2020.