The zoning hearing on Tuesday, March 19th went into overtime and extra innings as the County Commissioners, weary and skeptical from the three-hour testimony of RaceTrac’s experts trying to convince them that a truck stop was “agricultural related”, voted unanimously to give RaceTrac strike 3 and deny the zoning request.
In the fall of 2023, RaceTrac applied to rezone an 11-acre parcel, located deep inside the Farmland Preservation Area, from Agricultural to Rural Commercial to build a convenience store, gas station, and truck stop. The original site plan from RaceTrac included a 6,000 sf convenience store and 16 fueling lanes for cars, 6 fueling lanes for semi-trucks and 19 parking spaces for the big rigs. That was before they realized that truck stops are not allowed in the Farmland Preservation Area, so RaceTrac threw a curve ball and removed the semi-truck parking but kept the fueling lanes for the semi-trucks.
Commissioners didn’t fall for the shenanigan and neither did neighbor Mike Huber who put an end to all the fancy expert talk during his public comments, “If a truck stops in there, it’s a truck stop!”
At the hearing, all the players showed up, including over 160 neighbors, with 50 of them signing up to speak to ask Commissioners to deny the rezoning request. In addition, Commissioners received over 300 letters in opposition, including from the top switch-hitters and sluggers in the community: Chamber and Economic Partnership, the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association, 1,000 Friends of Florida, and the Principals of North Marion Middle School and High School.
After the seventh inning stretch, Attorney Matthew Brockway and Land Use Planner Evangeline Linkous, representing Horse Farms Forever, made strong pitches to support denying the rezoning request.
County Commissioners cited several examples of safety concerns, and the transportation and congestion issues, as some of the main reasons why they voted to deny the rezoning request. The Marion County Growth Services staff report included statistics on the intersection, which showed it averages one accident a week. Several neighbors also gave powerful testimony about the numerous accidents that occur at the intersection.
“I cannot get over the transportation aspect and putting 18 wheelers onto CR 329,” said County Commissioner Craig Curry.
Other concerns included the potential of a precedent by changing the zoning from Agricultural to Rural Commercial, which could open the door to a proliferation of rezoning requests for incompatible non-agricultural commercial uses in the Farmland Preservation Area.
At the end of the lengthy meeting, neighbors sighed with relief as the County Commissioners voted no to urban sprawl and yes to farmland preservation.
Horse Farms Forever thanks the County Commissioners for their strong support of the Farmland Preservation Area. We also thank the Marion County Growth Services staff for presenting a thorough report that documented the numerous traffic issues, safety concerns, and, most of all, the incompatibility of RaceTrac’s project within the Farmland Preservation Area.
Thank you also to Save Our Rural Areas for their partnership. It was a team effort and a Home Run for the Farmland Preservation Area!
Thank you so much for keeping urban sprawl out of one of the last remaining rural gems in Florida. The entire team at Horse Farms Forever deserves a standing ovation!
Thank you so much for your extensive and exhaustive work in support of our rural lands and way of life.
Excellent message. I personally and on behalf everyone in rural Marion County that are concerned with the encroachment of such development are grateful for Horse Farms Forever for the hard work given to the defeat of the RaceTrac rezoning request.
I was at the last 2 commission meetings.
Horse farms forever did an outstanding job in helping prevent this code violation from occurring.
My wife and I attended the commission meeting s and I spoke asking the commission to deny the application which I am pleased that they did. I personally am offended that the applicants were allowed to stage a filibuster in an attempt to outlast the time the public had to commit against the proposal. I was very impressed that the commission staff presented the position to oppose the approval in such a professional matter. The staff held strong and the public commiters remained steadfast undeterred by the tactics employed by the applicant’s “experts “. Kudos to all who participated in helping to preserve the beauty and safety of our community.