A food truck park that has been operating in south Ocala since March may be denied a special permit to continue operating in its current form, with county officials seeking more permanent upgrades to the parcel and the property owner seeking to temporarily maintain the food truck operations for up to three years while developing an adjacent parcel.
The special use permit request will be presented to the Marion County Board of County Commissioners during its upcoming meeting on Tuesday, November 19.
The application for the permit was filed by Luis Betances, who has a partnership interest in the Ocala Food Trucks park. According to county staff, the food truck park business is owned by Oniel Garcia.
Although food truck park originally opened at 2655 SW Highway 484 in March, according to a county staff report, the previous property owner had a dispute with Garcia and Betances that resulted in the facility moving to an adjacent parcel to the west.
According to a county staff report, Betances, Garcia, and the new property owners, Krissondatt and Bissoondial Bisram, are hoping to continue operating the food truck park temporarily at the site, which is currently unincorporated and does not have an address.
Those temporary operations would “not to extend beyond three years,” and would allow the groups to work to develop a permanent food truck park on a parcel to the east of the temporary site and the previous location.
That parcel, which is owned by Tigo Investment Group, LLC, and registered to Betances, filed for a separate application in July. A decision on that application will be made by the Marion County Board of County Commissioners sometime next month.
Both parcels are currently zoned Community Business (B-2) and are situated just south of the Ocala Sun RV Park, which was sold $13.6 million in September.
In July, a master plan submitted by Tigo Investment Group showed accommodations at the future food truck park for approximately 150 parking spaces, 45 food trucks, picnic tables, restrooms, and dumpsters at the site.
Currently, the temporary food truck park provides room for up to 80 parking spaces, 20 food trucks, 40 picnic tables, four restrooms, and three dumpsters. The application indicates that there will be a designated visitors’ parking area that will accommodate up to 74 more vehicles.
Those spaces would be located on the parcel in between the temporary food truck location and the planned location.
Over the last few months, the applicants have worked with county staff through several points of contention. Although there have been concessions made, ultimately, staff, and the county’s planning and zoning commission, have recommended denial of the permit for multiple reasons.
“Staff recommends denial due to the request being inconsistent with the Marion County Comprehensive Plan, incompatible with the surrounding area, and the adverse affect it would have on the public interest,” reads a statement from the staff summary recommendation in the county’s report.
That report also notes that the applicant has expressed concerns that they want “operations to continue without shutting down” and that many of the requests, including a sewer connection requirement, would be overly burdensome for the project.
Currently, the temporary food truck site makes use of portable restrooms. According to the county staff report, a condition of approving the use of septic tanks, which were proposed by the applicant as an alternative, would be a requirement to install bathroom facilities permanently at the site.
The Marion County Board of County Commissioners next meets at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, November 19, at the McPherson Governmental Campus (601 SE 25th Avenue, Ocala).
The parcels in question are situated within a hotbed of development near the Interstate 75/SW Highway 484 interchange in south Ocala. This year, that area has seen the additions of the city’s first SuperWash, a new Wawa, and a relocated Pepsi distribution facility.
An apartment complex is currently under development across the street from the food truck park, and just down the road, a medical cannabis company purchased a 250,000-square-foot logistics center for $37 million in July to cultivate and produce medical marijuana.
