OCALA, FL (352today.com) – Public access to a water park that was originally pitched as a private amenity?

An organization focused on land preservation has filed a writ of certiorari against Marion County. The Marion County Board of County Commissioners approved a planned unit development modification for an RV Park with Margaritaville-themed amenities on Feb. 18, 2026. Save Our Rural Areas, Inc, filed the writ of certiorari–a legal tool allowing a higher court to review a decision by a lower ruling body–on March 19, 2026, in the Circuit Court of the Fifth Judicial Circuit in and for Marion County, Florida.

Ralf G. Brookes is the plaintiff’s attorney.

The Marion County attorney’s office was contacted by 352today, but it’s their policy not to discuss pending or active litigation.

The action stems from a request to modify a planned unit development modification from PUD zoning to a PUD rezoning, for the Orange Lake RV resort. The request was to delete references about having private facilities for the users of the park and adding in the notation that if spaces are vacant, those RV spaces can be used for parking by people that come to use the facility on a day-type use pass.

The owner is 8M Holdings, LLC. Fred Roberts is the applicant. The physical location of the subject property is 18365 NW 45th Ave. Rd., which is actually a private drive shared by two properties, Orange Lake and the existing former Grand Lake RV Park, which is now under a different name. It’s a private driveway that has a road number address assigned to it.

“They put in for a planned development unit there, which they’ve always been allowed to do. That land was grandfathered in before the Farmland Preservation [designation] occurred. However, it’s in the center of that area,” said Tom Gant, representative for Save Our Rural Areas, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that was established in 2006. “They [originally] put a PUD in to basically have an RV park there.”

There’s already an existing RV park, which has been there for many years, and mostly retirees live there, said Gant.

“It’s very low key,” said Gant. “There’s a little golf course back there, you wouldn’t even notice it, if you didn’t look for it. It’s a very quiet community.”

When the land was developed, SORA didn’t say anything about it; the developer always had the right to develop the property, so they didn’t receive any opposition initially, said Gant. However, things changed when the water park was built on the site.

“They came back after the fact and asked for a variation to the zoning to allow the public to come in there and use it,” said Gant. “It was going to be an amenity to the RV park. That’s almost a classic case of spot zoning, which many court cases in Florida have gone over spot zoning and it’s completely illegal. It’s our stand that the county made a decision that was against their own land development code and against their own comprehensive plan, and that’s why we did the writ of certiorari.”