A property owner’s request to rezone a site near the Ocala International Airport to build a 73-home development will come up for a final vote this week, nearly two months after the airport’s director advised that the proposed site is close to a runway and that residents would incur “significant noise, dust, and fumes at all hours of the day and night.”
The request will be presented to the Marion County Board of County Commissioners during its regular meeting on Tuesday, April 15.
SW 60th Avenue, LLC, the property owner, is seeking permission to rezone the 27.12-acre property located at 4805 SW 60th Avenue from general agriculture (A-1) to planned unit development (PUD).
The proposed site is currently undeveloped and is situated just west of the HCA Florida West Marion Hospital and just southeast of the Ocala Regional Sportsplex.
In February, a request to delay the final vote on the rezoning was granted.
A conceptual plan shows that the developer is hoping to build 73 single-family, residential units at the proposed subdivision, which would be called Castlerock.
Corporate records show that SW 60th Avenue, LLC is registered to Dr. Shahab Eunus, a local pediatrician and the founder of Premier Pediatrics. The company is being represented by Miles Anderson P.E.
Ocala-News.com first reported on Castlerock last October, when the proposed subdivision was reviewed by the Marion County Development Review Committee.
On February 6, Ocala International Airport Director Matthew Grow issued a letter to the Marion County Office of the County Engineer to “strongly recommend” that the developer be required to attach an “aviation easement and a residential disclosure statement to each property to inform buyers of the airport’s proximity and associated impacts.”
According to Grow, the development site is approximately 1.5 miles south of the “threshold of Runway 36” at the airport. Grow says that in 2024, the airport recorded over 106,000 operations, including corporate, training, and military flights.
“Aircraft overflights in this area will generate significant noise, dust, and fumes at all hours of the day and night,” reads the letter from Grow. “Proper planning is necessary to mitigate potential conflicts between aviation activity and new residential development, preserving both the integrity of airport operations and the quality of life for future residents.”
According to a county records, after the applicant requested the item be tabled, the group worked with county staff to address concerns with overlapping buffers within individual lots. Revisions were made to the conceptual plan, showing the proposed buffers are now on their own tracts, with no overlap with individual residential lots.
If approved, Castlerock would have a site density around 2.69 homes/acre. The plan shows that proposed residences at the subdivision would be one or two stories and would be no more than 35 feet in height.
The Marion County Board of County Commissioners next meets on Tuesday, April 15, at 9 a.m. at the McPherson Governmental Complex (601 SE 25th Avenue).