A property owner is asking city officials to annex and rezone an 82-acre, former mining site in southwest Ocala to open the property up for development and the possibility of up to 590 dwelling units.
The Ocala City Council will review the proposal to annex and rezone the 82.40-acre property located at 5575 SW 52nd Street during its regular meeting on Tuesday, June 2. The property was acquired by Ocala 52 Partners, LLC in July 2024.
The group is seeking to bring the land into the city limits to facilitate future development and connect to available city utilities. The proposed development program for the property includes a mix of single-family residential, multi-family residential, and commercial land uses.
The requests were reviewed by the Ocala Planning and Zoning Commission during its regular meeting on May 25.
To move the project forward, the developer has submitted concurrent petitions for annexation, a future land use change from the county’s high residential designation to the city’s low intensity designation, and a rezoning from general agriculture to planned development.
According to a city staff report, the conceptual plan allows for a maximum of 590 new dwelling units, specifically broken down into 360 multi-family units and 230 single-family homes.
City staff notes that the proposed low intensity future land use would support an urban-level development density of 7.16 units per acre. Because the property is larger than 50 acres, the future land use amendment must be transmitted to the Florida Department of Commerce for an expedited state review.
The site was previously utilized for the mining of earth and other minerals from as early as the 1960s until approximately 2022. Following the cessation of those mining activities, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection issued a Release of Reclamation Obligations for the property.
Currently, the site contains a few small structures and a septic system that the developer will be required to remove prior to any new construction. The property also features a 6.7-acre man-made lake at its southern end and a 16,000-square-foot pond at the northeastern corner. The developer’s submitted plans indicate that both water bodies will be preserved and integrated into the design of the new neighborhood as amenities and drainage retention areas.
City staff recommends approval of the requests and note that while a city water main runs along SW 52nd Street, there are currently no sanitary sewer connection points within that right-of-way.
As a condition of the development, the applicant would be required to connect to the city’s sanitary sewer system to the north within the adjacent Fore Ranch development.
The Ocala City Council next meets on Tuesday, June 2, at 4 p.m. at Ocala City Hall (110 SE Watula Avenue).
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