OCALA, FL (352Today.com) – Marion County commissioners voted 5-0 during their regular meeting on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, to deny a special use permit for a 195-foot self-supporting telecommunications tower on rural land near Fort McCoy, rejecting recommendations from both county staff and the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The application (case 260701SU) by Skyway Towers, LLC, on behalf of property owners Wayne and Melanie Traina, sought approval for the tower and ground equipment on a 25.55-acre parcel at 18250 NE 160th Avenue Road. The site is zoned General Agriculture (A-1) within the Secondary Springs Protection Overlay Zone. Staff and the Planning and Zoning Commission had recommended approval with conditions, citing consistency with the Comprehensive Plan, improved wireless coverage in an area where the nearest tower is about five miles away and compliance with setback rules.
Public comment dominated the discussion and focused heavily on the property’s ties to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and the preservation of the area’s rural and historic character.
Vanessa Thomas, describing herself as an eighth-generation Floridian and seventh-generation Fort McCoy resident, shared her testimony with the commissioners.
“This is known as part of the Big Scrub. It was described very, very well by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in her book ‘South Moon Under.’ Also, in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, ‘The Yearling.’ This particular area is a historical, cultural resource. It is a shining example of folk life in that area and in this northeast region of Florida. When Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings went to stay on the property right next door to this for a couple of months, her two-and-a-half-month stay there is what brought to life her books,” Thomas said.
Thomas warned about the visual impact of tower lighting.
“The flashing bright red and white lights will certainly obliterate a beautiful skyline that appears at night. Rawlings many times described it, and in her book, she said that night entered the clearing from the scrub. The ‘low-tangled growth of young oak and pine and palmetto fell suddenly black and silent, seeming to move closer in one shadowy spring. The stars clustered about the chimney top like silver bees in the swarm.’ Red and white flashing lights are certainly going to obliterate that,” Thomas said, quoting Rawlings.
She also noted an application on file with the state seeking historic, cultural and folk-life designation for the property and surrounding landscape.
Louis Anthony Monaco, who owns 16 acres in Hog Valley that he calls the “Sasquatch Wildlife Reserve,” said he has refused tower proposals for a decade.
“I love our area, Hog Valley. This company has been bugging me for the last 10 years, and I’ve been saying no to their tower because I love our God and our country, and I love Hog Valley, and they don’t live out there. I live out there,” Monaco said.
“I don’t want to see a tower with lights on it disturbing the wildlife and the nature, and that’s why I said no to this tower. Land of the free and the home of the brave. I hope that you will not allow this tower to be built. This is a wilderness area. No towers should be in it,” he continued.
William Paget said he supports better cell phone coverage in principle but not at this location.
“I’m for progress, just like everybody else, and I believe that we do need a tower somewhere. I would just hope that maybe the tower wouldn’t be as close to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ place, where she stayed at one time, but I’d also think that it shouldn’t be as close to some residential areas. Surely, there’s enough room out there in that forest to have a tower without picking a piece of property that’s close to people that have concerns about health,” Paget said.
Gina Acres read a letter from Florence Turcott, literary manuscripts archivist at the University of Florida’s George A. Smathers Libraries and a Rawlings scholar:
“The Fidia Blackstone Land in Marion County, along the Ocklawaha River, is the location where the late Pulitzer Prize-winning author Marjorie Kinnon Rawlings received inspiration for two of her most famous novels, ‘South Moon Under’ and ‘The Yearling,’ Rawlings lived for a time on the property with Leonard and Piety Phidia in 1931 to learn about the Florida scrub country and the lives of the Florida cracker people who lived there. This visit and her friendship with the Fidias inspired the story of the Jacklin family in ‘South Moon Under,’ and later the Baxters in ‘The Yearling,’ the Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction in 1939. Preserving the historical integrity of this property should be foremost in the minds of elected officials in making this decision. I’m convinced that Rawlings would vehemently oppose this plan. As a historian and Rawlings scholar, I am surprised that this measure is even being considered. ‘South Moon Under’ will be reissued in a new edition published by the University Press of Florida this fall. This publication will bring renewed attention to this novel and to Rawlings’ work in general. Undoubtedly, people will want to visit the site of the inspiration of this wonderful story of the Big Scrub and its people. They will not want to encounter a massive 5G tower in this unspoiled territory,” Acres said.
Nearby resident Lori Phillips, whose home is visible on the site map at 18100 Northeast 160th Avenue Road, said the family only recently learned of the proposal and has submitted materials for National Register of Historic Places consideration.
“We realize you probably did not know the historical significance of the Fidia property, but now that you do, our hope is that you have heard enough about the historical significance in relation to the late Marjorie Kinnan Rollings to see the value of preserving it, not only for our family but for the county as a whole,” Phillips said.
Phillips added that a state official reviewing the National Register application indicated eligibility is likely because the site relates to Rawlings’ early literary success.
Commissioner Curry, noting multigenerational roots in Marion County, stood opposed.
“I mean, there’s three of us up here that were born and raised in Marion County, and nine go back 10 generations to 1823. So, I hear what you’re saying, and the preservation of the little bit of history that we can preserve is important, and particularly for you folks that live there, so I don’t think it serves the purpose of the community that we need to justify doing this. I’m not in favor of it,” Curry said.
Commissioner Zalak opposed the request because “it’s not compatible with the area.” Another commissioner stated: “It will adversely affect the surrounding properties.”
Curry made the motion to deny, seconded by Commissioner Bryant. The motion carried 5-0.