A new multi-tenant commercial building that would bring flexible business spaces to Ocala is moving forward through the county’s planning pipeline.
The Marion County Development Review Committee is scheduled to evaluate a major site plan proposal for a development named EFP Commercial during its regular meeting on Monday, June 22. The proposed commercial project is slated for a property located at 3456 SE Lake Weir Avenue in Ocala.
According to the official application documents prepared by Menadier Engineering on behalf of the property owner, RD Plaza, LLC, the project will support the construction of an approximately 18,000-square-foot building.
The singular structure is being designed as a flexible commercial space intended to house multiple tenants with a fluid mix of retail, office, and storage uses. The subject property currently holds a regional business (B-4) zoning classification, which permits this type of commercial footprint.
The major site plan application is currently undergoing extensive review to ensure the technical engineering designs comply with local land development regulations. During the ongoing review process, county planners have asked the developer to provide additional clarifications regarding the internal arrangement of the building units and the specific types of businesses that will operate on the site.
Among the primary technical items flagged by county staff are the project’s current parking and loading space calculations. City staff notes that the current site layout calculates parking spaces based primarily on retail and restaurant usage, which yields only two surplus spaces.
Because standard office and medical office uses require a higher density of parking spaces per square foot under the county’s land development code, staff has requested a formal declaration of the maximum extent of office spaces permitted to prevent future localized parking shortages. Planners also requested explicit details on how delivery trucks will safely load and unload behind the facility without disrupting adjacent operations.
Landscaping and environmental elements are also under scrutiny ahead of the upcoming committee session. The developer submitted a formal waiver request seeking to substitute a required six-foot-high landscape buffer wall along the northern, southern, and western property boundaries with a privacy fence.
However, county growth services staff notes in the review documents that they will not support a reduction of the buffer standard, emphasizing that the county remains highly reluctant to grant such deviations when commercial sites directly abut residential areas or public rights-of-way.
Engineering reviewers also note that the southwest corner of the property contains a designated flood-prone area. Because the construction plans propose to fill in a portion of this low-lying zone, the developer must demonstrate that the project’s planned water detention area provides sufficient compensating storage to handle stormwater and prevent local flooding.
The applicant must also complete an environmental assessment for listed species or secure a formal code exemption before the project can secure final engineering signatures and proceed toward horizontal construction.
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