Recent news from U-Haul shows that the Ocala metro area is a top growth city based on their study that tracks one-way U-Haul rentals. With nearly 270 people moving to Marion County every week, the County is one of the fastest growing communities. Over the next 20 years, the population is expected to reach nearly 500,000 residents.
At Horse Farms Forever, we actively monitor this growth and it is one of our top priorities, as we track all of the development applications that may adversely affect horse farms, rural areas, and the Farmland Preservation Area.
Where will the growth go?
As part of Marion County’s Comprehensive Plan, the Urban Growth Boundary was designated to plan for growth and provide public services. The County’s Urban Growth Boundary is about 122,000 acres. This is about 11 percent of Marion County as it encompasses just over 1 million acres.
There are several cities and urban areas that are located outside of the Urban Growth Boundary, such as Dunnellon, Belleview, Silver Springs Shores, and Marion Oaks, that are appropriate for residential and urban development.
Urban Growth Boundary Bigger than Orlando
With 122,000 acres in the Urban Growth Boundary, how does this compare to other growing cities? The City of Orlando is about 88,000 acres, and this makes the County’s Urban Growth Boundary about 34,000 acres larger than Orlando. There is also ample land within the Urban Growth Boundary as about 50 percent is available for development, as stated at a recent Marion County Commission workshop.
Staggering Number of Approved Residential Units
According to a report presented at the Strategic Planning workshop in May of 2022, the County has more than 135,000 approved residential units. Over 50,000 residential units were approved from 2017 to 2022. The bulk of the approved units include nearly 86,000 undeveloped lots that were approved decades ago, such as in Marion Oaks and Silver Springs Shores.
The map shows that the majority of the developments are within the Urban Growth Boundary. The County projects show as balloons. Pending permits are yellow and permitted are green. The light green shaded area is the FPA. The bright pink dotted line designates the Urban Growth Boundary. If you go to the map link, a list shows the name of each development project with the date of the approval of the project and number of units for each project. (Click on the Layers tab.)
HFF is Monitoring for Threats
The reality is that both Florida and Marion County are growing. Given the magnitude of growth that’s projected for Marion County, the land use decisions made by government officials and landowners over the next 20 years will determine our future.
Horse Farms Forever is focused on protecting and preserving horse farms in the areas of the County with a Future Land Use of Rural Land, especially in the Farmland Preservation Area.
Growth is good for a community, as long as it is well-planned and goes where it was intended within the Urban Growth Boundary, which serves twin purposes as it also helps to preserve our farmland and our $4.3 billion-dollar equine industry.
Maintaining this balance between growth and preservation will take a cooperative effort from both sides of the table.
