Agricultural land rezoned for 54 homes, surrounding neighborhoods voice concern

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Posted November 26, 2021 | By James Blevins
james@ocalagazette.com

At the Marion County Board of County Commissioners (MCBOCC) meeting held on Nov. 16, the commission approved the request of Todd B. Rudnianyn, owner of Highway 27 West, LLC, to rezone 11 acres located between Quail Meadow and Ocala Preserve neighborhoods, from agricultural use to planned development that includes 54 single family residences.

The application described the new development as a retirement-age restricted, detached single-family, residential development, tentatively named “Quail Preserve.”

Residents from the neighboring developments came to voice objection to the development, primarily concerns related to traffic, and the damage that construction vehicles would have on their roads.

“In 2008,” said a gentleman who lives at 4677 N.W. 31^st Street, “the streets were resurfaced. Our streets are in good shape. Without stipulation, you are allowing our developer to damage our streets for his profit—leaving us to pay for the damage.”

Laura Fonde, secretary for the Quail Meadow Property Owners Association (QMPOA), said during the public portion of the meeting that “In compliance with [the MCBOCC], representatives of Quail Meadow attempted in good faith to negotiate a solution to satisfy the basic safety needs of our community and protect our residents from the exorbitant cost, which will be forced upon us by allowing this zoning change without stipulations that will be legally passed on to the builder.”

Members of the public also had concerns with Rudnianyn calling the new planned development “Quail Preserve,” being that it would cause confusion to new residents of Quail Meadow as far as which roads to use traveling through each respective community.

The commission and staff acknowledged a 2017 traffic study report that substantiated the concerns of the adjacent neighbors who complained that people were using their neighborhood roads to get to a nearby shopping area- and that this new development would only exacerbate the problem more.

One of the solutions proposed to address Quail Meadow’s traffic concerns was to privatize the community’s roads, adding gates, so that the neighborhood would no longer be used as a cut-through. However, that solution would require 80% of the HOA to agree to that action.

One of concessions of the applicant was to direct construction vehicle traffic through another piece of undeveloped land owned by the applicant rather than using public road access.