Golden Ocala / World Equestrian Center Comprehensive Plan Text Amendment
Description
Adds sports facilities to the WEC land use definition and bumps the hotel cap from 1,350 to 1,650 rooms countywide in the WEC designation.
Impact summary
Opens the whole WEC designation to sports uses, though zoning limits where they can actually be built.
Applicant
- Name
- Golden Ocala Equestrian Land, LLC, et al.
- Address
- Multiple addresses and/or no addresses assigned
At a glance
- Hearings
- 1
- Public comments
- 0
- Total mentions
- 1
Last vote · Planning Commission
A recommendation. The council’s outcome is not on record here.
Last discussed Mar 18, 2026.
Meeting timeline (1)
Related issues (3)
Rainbow River Fines and Noise-Sensitive Zone
The board wrestled with crowd noise, sound stages and festival-type events. The developer's sound engineer detailed directional speakers, cardioid subwoofers and decibel limiters, and the PUD requires compliance with the 60/65-decibel ordinance, with special-event permits the only path to exceed it — max four times a year.
Buffers and the farmland preservation area boundary
Horse Farms Forever argued the equestrian estates were supposed to buffer horse farms from the WEC, and the 250-acre expansion eats into that. The board kept the remaining equestrian estates locked at their existing pattern, added new B and C buffers along SR 40 and the western boundary, and confirmed no changes inside the farmland preservation area.
State Road 40 traffic deficiencies and proportionate-share funding
The traffic study found SR 40 failing from the urban boundary to I-75 at buildout. County and FDOT projects — widening 80th Avenue, a new 49th Avenue interchange — may shift the picture, and the developer must pay proportionate share, with a follow-up agreement due within eight months. Neighbors remain skeptical that FDOT has approved any SR 40 widening.
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