Editor's note: This story has been revised to correct some geographic references.
The World Equestrian Center is one step closer to establishing another elite venue:an eventing cross-countrycomplexon 1,029 acres offCounty Road 318 that will include a 9,000-seat stadium, 200-room hotel, 100-lot RV parkand 94 single-family homes.
On a 3-2 vote Monday, the volunteer Marion County Planning and Zoning board recommended approval of the plan. The Marion County Commission will have the final say.
A handful of area residents appeared at the zoning board hearing, with many supportingthe concept but opposingthe RV park and hotel.The plan is aimed atlodging competitors, andthose facilities willbe contained within the large complex.
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The previous owner, the last onebefore the sale, spoke in favor of the plan.The son of a horse farm legend read a letter from the OcalaHorse Alliance, which was against adding a hotel and RV park on farmland preservation land.
The World EquestrianJockey Club, which was known as the Ocala Jockey Club for four decades, is owned by Golden Ocala Equestrian Lands, LLC, the developer of the World Equestrian Center.The aging jockey club venue was purchased in August 2021.
The World Equestrian Center, known as WEC, opened in December 2020. The world-class complex features a number of arenas and exposition venues, with an RV parkand the posh Equestrian Hotel, onNorthwest 80th Avenue just north of State Road 40.
The property is near the southwest corner of CR 318 and CR 225, just west of I-75
The acreage is located at the southwest corner of CR 318 and County Road 225, less than a mile west of Interstate 75 in a hamlet known as Irvine. This is east of Flemington and west of Reddick in a county-designatedFarmland Preservation Area.
On Tuesday, the planning and zoning board recommended approval of both the text and mapamendments to the county comprehensive plan that, if approved by the county commission on March 1, must be submitted to the state for review and approval.
Also on March1, the county commission willvote on the planned unit development, known as a PUD. If the commission votes to deny the text and map amendments, the commission will have to deny the owners' request.
The plan is to build polo fields and an adjacent 100-lot RV park. Also, the World Equestrian Jockey Club wants to build a 200-room hotel for competitors and families of eventing cross-country and polo.
Also on sitewill be some commercial space that will include retail, fueling and other amenities to support the venue.
CR 318 is a two-lane road, and the I-75 interchange at Exit 368, built in the 1960s, is in need of upgrading. The idea, officials said, is to keep people who are attending the events onsite and avoid creatingan overload of in-and-out CR 318 traffic, which would lead tobottlenecks atthe I-75 overpass.
On the east side of I-75 is Petro Travel Center #323, which adds to interchange woes.
Another sticking point for Marion County Growth Services staff is that when the property was originally developed, the county agreed to to allow the then-Ocala Jockey Club to build townhomes. A total of 34 units were built on Northwest 87th Avenue Road.
That development, listed on county documents as the Ocala Jockey Club townhomes, was not part of the sale to Golden Ocala Lands, LLC. The new plan calls for 94 homes, each on three-acre lots, and county officials believe that is double dipping.
Those 94 homes would beon nearly 300 acres, with one entrance to 27 home lots on CR 225. An entrance to the 67 homes, some of which on about eight-acre lots, would be off CR 318 on the west side of the property.
The agriculture zoning designation allows for one home for every 10 acres. The 94 homes fall with the100 for 1,029 acres, though the Jockey Club townhome site was approved in the early 1980s. Adding those together would be mean it would fall under 10-acre per home allowance, which would not meet code.
The county gave a long list of alternative conditions if the plan was approved. County growth services officials believes the allowable number of homes shouldbe only 74 additional units when the Ocala Jockey Club townhomes are added.
The middle portion of the property would include eventing courses, as well as six barns, two polo fields, the Roberts Outdoor Ring and Derby Field, as well as hunter jumper warm areas in different areas of the complex.
The general consensus of three of the volunteer board members was that traffic would be less affectedif these amenitieswere allowed on site, keeping people from having to drive under or onI-75 on CR 318 to go to Ocala for lodging.
P&Z board member Thomas Fisher told county staffthat the "interchange is not sufficient to handle that." The developer will be responsible for conducting a traffic study to determine if the road can handle the traffic and what upgrades need to be made.
Two members, including Fisher, believed the hotel and RV park should not be built.
Many residentsweighed in on the new concept, with many in favor
Jimmy Gooding, an Ocala attorney representing Golden Ocala Lands, LLC, said that he understands that this area is outside of the Urban Growth Boundary designation. He noted that the original Ocala Jockey Club agreement prohibited a hotel on site.
"We are seeking an exception for two of those uses on this property," Gooding said. "One is a hotel and the other is an RV park."
Gooding explained that when it comes to large events, people like to stay on site. Many of the competitors compete at different times per day. Others want to be close to the venue to see family members in action.
Gooding also assured the P&Z board thatevents at the complexwould not cause traffic rushes. He noted that it would not be hosting the kinds of sporting events where awave of people come inand three hours laterall leave at same time.
He also noted the property also touches land that has been zoned "employment center," one of the most intense land uses.
"It is not a dagger in the heart of the rural area," he noted. As terms of traffic, he said it is not going to be like a "Florida football game or rock concert."
Some residents spoke about the fact they purchased their homes on the north side of CR 318 because of its rural setting and do not want to see large barns and other buildings out their front door.
One speaker was Bonnie Heath III, the son and the namesake ofBonnie Heath. Heath's father, who died in 2001 at age84, is considered oneof the first to bring horse farms to Marion County.
Heath's mammoth farm was once on State Road 200 near I-75, where Market Street at Heath Brook, Meadows at Heath Brookand Heath Brook Commons shopping center are located today.
Heath III spoke at the meeting on behalf of the Ocala Horse Alliance. Heath, a board member,said he would read a letter from Ellie Truman, CEO and founderof the alliance.
"The horse part of it we love," Heath said before reading the letter aloud. "It's the hotel and other stuff we do not like."
The alliance's stance is that the WEC on Northwest 80th Avenue has further accelerated the horse industry, which isa huge economic engine. But the horse farms in the preservation area should be protected.
"Yet despite the multiple proven advantages of horse farms and the equestrian industry, Marion County is takingaction to kill the goose that laid the golden egg," he read.
Erik Nygaard, who owned the Ocala Jockey Club from 2005 to 2021, said he's in favor of the project because it will be an elite facility. He said the facility while host eventing cross countrythat isan Olympic sport.
In fact, the Ocala Jockey Club was the only facility in the southeastern United States to host a qualifying event for the 2020 Olympic summer games, Nygard said.
Joe Callahan can be reached at (352) 817-1750 or at joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.
