Another open space going away for development?

Cotton grows in a field at the intersection of West SR 40 and Southwest 60th Avenue in Ocala, Florida on Monday November 16, 2021. There is a zoning change proposed for the property. [Alan Youngblood/Special to the Ocala Gazette]

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Posted November 19, 2021 | By Jennifer Hunt Murty

City Council approved RLR Investments rezoning request for 79.66 acres north of West Highway 40 and west of NW 60^th Ave. at the Nov. 2, 2021, city council meeting.

Principals of RLR Investments, LLC, include Ralph Roberts, Sr., and Mary D. Roberts, the principals behind the World Equestrian Center.

The company’s attorney was unresponsive to multiple inquiries to learn what the planned use was for the property and to find out whether the property was leased to a farmer who raised the cotton crops there now.

In notes by city staff recommending approval of the zoning change to city council and the planning and zoning commission, they described the property as “undeveloped” and the future use “low intensity.”

The land had previously been annexed into the City of Ocala in 2013 and had historically been used for agricultural purposes until this request.

RLR Investments bought the property for $2 million in Feb. 2019.

The 79.66 acres is the largest track of land owned by RLR Investments in Marion County. A review of 153 property records associated with RLR Investments on the Marion County Property Appraiser’s website showed the entity primarily owns vacant lots within or attached to Golden Ocala.

Nancy Smith, Senior Planner for the City of Ocala Growth Management Department, indicated that RLR Investments did not identify their plans for future use of the property with their rezoning request and did not know the farmer who grew crops on the land currently.