Marco? Polo!
Or is this a Trojan Horse?
Golden Ocala wants to swap soccer fields for polo fields at the WEC Sports Complex. They are requesting a waiver to allow release of building permits prior to approval of the Major Site Plan at the June 22 Development Review Committee meeting.
After being relabeled from soccer fields to polo fields, Growth Services determined the plan could move forward under Golden Ocala’s existing 2020 PUD approval.
The proposed “WEC Polo Field and Facilities” site plan looks very similar to the soccer fields that were approved in March 2026 as part of the Sports Complex, which is currently facing administrative and legal challenges.
See the site plans below for the March 2026 soccer fields and the proposed June 2026 polo fields.
These are the original Overall Site Plans submitted showing soccer fields.
Three of the soccer fields have been combined for the main polo field, in the shaded area along HWY 40.
The top two rows of the previous 8 soccer fields are now for training, according to the Growth Services staff report.
To the Horse Farm Forever watchdogs, there sure seems to be a lot of similarity. This is especially interesting since a typical regulation polo field is 3 times larger than a regulation soccer field!
Maybe there is a different regulation size polo field for trojan horses?
Polo Fields are 3 Times Larger
- Polo Fields have an overall length of 300 yard and width of 160 yards for a total area of 432,000 ft²
- FIFA rules dictate a precise size of 110 to 120 yards long by 70 to 80 yards wide for a total area of approximately 76,823 ft² for a professional Soccer Field.
No Horse Barns for Trojan Horses?
The soccer fields have become polo fields, so where are the horse barns? It seems as though Trojan horses don’t need a stall, as there are no horse barns. Also, where is the parking lot for all the horse trailers?
Land Use Limited to Equestrian Estates
Concerns have also been raised regarding land-use restrictions tied to this property – now proposed for polo fields – which limits the land use to low residential “Equestrian Estates.”
In 2017, approximately 1,000 acres were removed from the Farmland Preservation Area to allow for the World Equestrian Center. That approval was based on a Development Agreement: these estates would serve as a buffer between the World Equestrian Center and the new boundary of the Farmland Preservation Area, and Equestrian Estates are the only allowed use.
Perhaps we should all ask Growth Services, why the site plan with polo fields doesn’t have barns for the horses or parking for the horse trailers?
The waiver request for the building permits will be heard by the Development Review Committee (DRC) at 9:00 AM on Monday, June 22.
Always Alert
The Horse Farms Forever watchdogs are actively monitoring this waiver request and we will keep our members updated!
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