The Marion County Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended the proposed amendments to the Marion County 2050 Comprehensive Plan at a public hearing, forwarding the package to the Board of County Commissioners for transmission to the state for review.

Growth-services staff summarized the changes as a mix of grammar and reorganization along with a number of substantive policy edits. Staff said the packet includes a clean copy, a red-lined copy and a table of changes that explains where wording was moved or updated. "This is a public hearing to consider some proposed amendments to the Marion County 2050 comprehensive plan," staff told the commission at the outset.

Key policy changes cited by staff include: new definitions and a planning framework intended to clarify county review priorities; a new "professional office" policy to allow some homes to convert to office use; a reintroduced "commercial recreation" land-use category for low-intensity outdoor tourism uses; an explicit acknowledgment that state law now permits solar facilities on agricultural zoning; and a policy allowing for new construction or expansion of certain landfill facilities to preserve local solid-waste capacity.

On timing and statutory constraints, staff said this package is the seven‑year evaluation-and-appraisal amendment the county is required to file and must be transmitted to the state by 2026-01-28. Staff also discussed Senate Bill 180 and told the commission the changes were reviewed with the intent to avoid provisions that the state could declare "more restrictive"; staff said the county believes most edits are consistent with existing land-development code provisions.

Commissioners asked for clarifications during the presentation: how special use permits would be handled going forward (staff: special uses must be consistent with underlying land use), how agritourism is defined (staff and consultant: qualifying agritourism is "bonafide agricultural" activity as described in Florida statutes), and how existing, older subdivisions could be converted to acreage and have vested development rights applied elsewhere.

Assistant County Administrator Tracy Straub responded to concerns about transparency in economic reporting tied to the county's economic partner, stating, "They do provide a monthly report to the Board of County Commissioners and it is put on our agenda." Staff agreed to provide the planning commission with the same CEP material the county receives.

After discussion the commission voted by voice to "approve the proposed comprehensive plan as presented by staff because it is not adverse to the public interest and it is consistent with Chapter 163 of Florida Statutes." The motion carried by unanimous consent.

Next steps: staff will transmit the commission's recommendation and the amendment package to the Board of County Commissioners and then to the state for review, after which the county will schedule additional public hearings as required by state review comments.