Marion County LDRC advances definitions for 'flying communities' after public comment

The Marion County Land Development Regulation Commission voted to advance proposed changes to Article I, Division II of the Land Development Code that define terms including “flying community,” “airport” and “private airport.” The motion to move the definitions as written passed with three votes in favor and one abstention.

Ken (S7), who presented the definitions, told commissioners the package is part of a broader schedule of LDC revisions intended to clarify development standards. The clerk confirmed public-notice publication on the Marion County website on 01/23/2026.

In public comment, Bizzy Shires, Director of Conservation for Horse Farms Forever (S8), asked the Commission to change the residential threshold in the flying-community definition from 10 units to 2 and noted a grammatical correction from “has” to “have.” “Change to read, fly in community, a residential or mixed use development of more than 2 residential units which have legal taxiway access to a private airport,” Shires said while presenting the suggested language for the record.

Commission discussion referenced earlier workshop deliberations. Some members said they preferred retaining higher thresholds (5 or 10) to avoid requiring a full Planned Unit Development (PUD) process for small clusters of homes with hangars. After debate, a commissioner moved to advance the definitions as presented; the motion carried with three yes votes and one abstention.

The Commission did not adopt the numeric change requested by Horse Farms Forever; the matter will now be part of the record forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners' public hearing schedule.