Commission backs Sumter Electric’s rezoning and special-use application for Ocala operations center

The Marion County Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend approval of a rezoning and a special-use permit for Sumter Electric Cooperative’s (SECO Energy) proposed Ocala district operations center on parcels near County Road 475A.

Staff presented the rezoning (case 250203ZC) to change roughly 79 acres from General Agriculture A-1 to Community Business B-2, consistent with the Employment Center future land-use designation and a local visual enhancement overlay (475A). SECO representatives (including Cathy Judkins, SECO; Tara Tedder, attorney; and Tracy Dilemmas, SECO general counsel) described the project as a district operations office, indoor vehicle and equipment storage, and an outdoor equipment/materials laydown area sized to serve a growing member base across seven counties.

SECO emphasized the facility’s emergency-response role, saying a modern operations center would shorten restoration times during storms and house covered parking and covered material storage to improve readiness. SECO said the facility would be a long-term member investment and not a speculative commercial project.

Staff initially recommended denial of the special-use permit application, citing concerns about the visual overlay, the amount of outdoor storage, visibility of warehousing above proposed plantings, and the scale relative to the overlay’s gateway objectives. SECO responded with a substantially revised proposal that included enhanced landscape buffers, an 8-foot opaque perimeter fence, irrigation, dark-sky lighting, architectural standards, paved circulation to prevent dust, and an offer to accept numerous conditions and enforceable mitigations. SECO also agreed to conditions that would limit the allowed use (the special use) to SECO and to permit revocation if conditions were not implemented.

The commission discussed the overlay’s intent — including differing interpretations about whether it was intended only for tourism uses around the Florida Horse Park — and weighed the greater traffic and visual impacts that alternative commercial or retail development would generate if the parcels remained available for by-right commercial uses. Several commissioners and public speakers, including the Florida Horse Park executive director and representatives of Horse Farms Forever, said SECO’s proposal would be preferable to higher-intensity commercial development that could otherwise be allowed under B-2 zoning.

After extended public comment — including support letters from local business and civic partners and remarks from nearby residents — the commission voted to recommend approval of the rezoning to B-2 (unanimous) and to recommend approval of the special-use permit with the extensive staff conditions and additional commitments from SECO. The special-use permit recommendation included conditions requiring significant buffering, planting standards, paved circulation, architectural treatments, dark-sky lighting and operational restrictions tying the permit to SECO’s use (the permit would not automatically transfer to another operator without commission/BOCC review).

Both recommendations will be forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners for final action. Staff and the applicant will continue to finalize technical conditions, particularly those related to site grading, drainage, and the sequencing of required landscaping and paving prior to operations.