OCALA, FL (352today.com) – The Marion County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, approved a zoning modification request to change language that would allow the public to use Margaritaville-themed amenities at an RV park in Citra by a 4-1 vote. Commissioner Craig Curry, Dist. 1 was the lone dissenting vote.
The applicant made a request for a planned unit development modification for a PUD Zoning to a PUD rezoning, for the Orange Lake RV resort, said Chris Rison, Marion County growth services senior planner.
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 and 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.
“There is language in the PUD that was adopted in 2011,” said Roberts. “The exact language at issue that created this conversation was proposed convenience store/laundromat/hair salon to the location specific to where it would be located. This convenience store will serve the Oakwater Village development only. That is relevant, one, because there is no convenient store proposed. And two, why was that included in 2011? That actually corresponds exactly to language incorporated at the time and still is in 4.2.5, the table of uses for commercial uses, under rural resort, which is what the zoning was changed to at that time to this exact language from code. As a matter of right, in this particular zoning, the use of convenient store and to have a gas station for primary use of residences and their guests.”
No convenience store
It had been a conceptual plan that there might be a convenience store because it was going from rural resort to planned unit development, said Roberts. The reason for the zoning modification was to delete the aforementioned language. It was not for a special request to allow this park to be open to the public. 8M Holdings was about to open their existing park.
The request was also to add language that the county doesn’t have in code relating to RV spaces being able to be used for more than one use. An RV space can be used for parking an RV, or if not in use for parking an RV, for parking a car.
The park is essentially governed under the PUD, and it will be open to the public for paying guests associated with the RV Park, said Roberts. This will not be a time share resort.
The parking would be limited to paved parking spots within the subdivision as a whole. There wouldn’t be overflow parking on the grass. There are 489 RV spots.
It is more than simply RV spots. There are also park model units and it’s truly a resort concept governed under the systems and operational controls of any Margaritaville-type resort would be and is under that umbrella, said Roberts.
The request is for the PUD modification where the applicant is looking to formally make everything available to the public as far as the amenities and their community aspect, for those facilities that are under construction at the park, said Rison.
If there were no RVs in the park, the maximum number of day-passes that could be sold would be 840.
Standard measurements
There had been a reference to having an increased height for the waterslide complex; however, that was an oversight on the growth services planner’s part–the 145 feet that was listed on their plan was related to navigational elevations and sea level, not actual height about the ground. The height above the ground is actually 40 feet, which is permissible in that classification of zoning, said Rison.
The property does have a series of histories to it, said Rison. Originally, it did have a comprehensive plan amendment to change the land use to what was at that time called commercial recreation.
When Marion County updated their comprehensive plan, they consolidated commercial recreation into commercial, so the property has a current land use designation formerly of commercial, said Rison. The property has been through a number of different rezonings, shifting from recreational resort to planned unit development. It had a renewal in 2017. They went forward with their site plan for that project to develop that project. It did have an interim special use permit for agricultural purposes a number of years ago as it’s been through a series of ownerships since its initial inception.
It received its RV entitlements back in 1988, and that was the Grand Lake RV Park, a portion of the site. It was the owner at that time, who proposed to expand the RV park.
The site is currently under construction. The land had formerly been designated as commercial, which by Marion County’s comprehensive plan allows for both residential and commercial activities. The Marion County property appraiser’s office does identify RV parks as commercial properties. The site has an access point on Hwy. 318.
The amenities would include the water tower with four slides, splash pad area, an amenity building, a resort pool, a lazy river pool and a smaller slide. There will also be a meeting type space, hospitality room, a breezeway between the different areas, retail space and a health club and a kitchen/restaurant space.
The tower doesn’t have an official occupancy, but rather a load calculation, so it’s difficult to put an actual number on it, said Rison. The slides can only accommodate one person at a time.
No changes were proposed regarding the project’s buffers.
Commuter concerns
A traffic study concluded that the current systems in the area are acceptable. However, the Office of the County Engineer said they do want to get a supplemental study that will focus on the 318/45th Ave. Rd. intersection, which is one of the adjusted conditions that county staff has for the PUD, said Rison.
When developing the traffic study for the project, analysts looked at a similar request, an existing type of Margaritaville resort in the Auburndale area with approximately 400 RV units. The project in Citra is about 490 RV units. The result of the intersection analysis was that it would continue to operate acceptably for the system.
The traffic study was completed and approved by the county in January, and the applicant knows exactly what improvements are going to be required.
From a Marion County staff perspective, although the site is located in the Farmland Preservation Area, the site does have a commercial designation to it–it’s part of a historic PUD for an RV resort. Though it initially was an expansion of Grand Lake, now it’s a standalone facility. It does adjoin and provide shared access to an existing RV resort that is in place that does have some public access facilities.
The PUD modification proposes enabling non-RVs access to the facilities, enabling offseason use of the amenities making them available to other parties. The site does provide for onsite central potable water and central sewer systems that are serving that RV park.
Marion County staff recommended approval of the request.
Area evolution
Commissioner Curry was concerned about the intensity of the project, with CR 318 being only a two-lane road, and a new reason for additional traffic being introduced to a place located in the Farmland Preservation Area.
“You’re going to make a destination out of it, so to speak, as opposed to a quiet place to come and rest up,” said Curry. “Now you’re going to make a park out of it. How do you square that up with the farmland and the horse farms that are adjacent, north, south and east of it all along 318. You’ve taken an enclave that seemed to fit pretty well, even though I don’t know if it would go in today’s world, but back in 1988 and 2000, it kind of nestled itself in. But now, we’re going to make something wholly different. Square the noise up, square the amount of people coming into that location, with the rural area of the Farmland Preservation.”
The Farmland Preservation is of value and was considered, said Roberts.
“This property is different,” said Roberts. “This is not something where we’re trying to extricate it from the Farmland Preservation Area. We’re not trying to do anything that would make changes and modifications. This property actually has a commercial land use, and a full vested entitlement for this particular use. Technically, it’s vested for 599 units, not 490 as what’s being proposed.”
The site covers 315 contiguous acres of property with either commercial land use or commercial zoning, between the two RV parks that are side-by-side, one currently operated and open to the public, featuring a restaurant, golf course, public boat ramp, said Roberts. The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Jai Alai Fronton is next door, so this area has historically had these corresponding uses as vested entitlements or actual uses.
“The Farmland Preservation Area should not control what can be done in designated areas for commercial land use that are developed in a commercial way in accordance with the previously addressed plan,” said Roberts. “The Farmland Preservation Area doesn’t work retroactively and then undo what exists today. This project is fully developed now under the auspices of the approved plan with the only change to this being to clean up a note that in my opinion carried forward from the code, and the only reason the zoning was changed from recreational resort to PUD because the developer at the time actually intended to build casitas ( a casita typically refers to a small, self-contained dwelling built on the same property as a primary home.). It didn’t fit within the recreational resort classification, so they changed to a PUD to allow it.”
Changes in attitude
However, there was some pushback against the facility’s presence in the Farmland Preservation Area, regarding traffic, lighting and noise issues, overuse of water and how it would affect Orange Lake’s water quality and quantity issue and the Floridan Aquifer, possibly being impaired by pollution, and the project’s lack of compatibility and consistency with the surrounding area and the comprehensive plan. The argument was that since it was in the Farmland Preservation Area it does trigger the 3.3.1 elements of rural character.
“Everything we do, we try to do with Jimmy Buffet in mind, he’s no longer with us, but his family still owns part of the company, but that’s very serious to us,” said Jim Wiseman, Margaritaville president of development. “We’re very serious when we look at a piece of property like this… We want to adhere to doing things right and doing things proper that are going to expand our brand within a certain area. We’ve been looking in Marion County for a long time, and the surrounding areas to do exactly what we’re talking about here. I can say, we always deal with the highest-class companies and great people.”
All Marion County residents will receive a discount, said Wiseman.
“We give back to the community. we have a thing called Singing for Change,” said Wiseman. “Ten percent of the profits go back into that. All of the Singing for Change goes back into the local community where we are.”