RV resort approved for Rolling Greens

An artist’s rendering of the Rolling Greens RV Resort entrance. The plan for the resort, off Southeast Baseline Road, was approved by the Marion County Commission on March 16.

Marion County’s largest mobile home park plans to add a 280-space RV resort on about 62 acres along Baseline Road.

Cove Communities, the owners of the decades-old Rolling Greens Village, got approval for the plan at the March 16 Marion County Commission meeting.

Started in the 1970s, the community is home to 1,300 mostly year-round 55-plus residents. The mobile home park has more than 1,000 spaces, with more than 700 currently occupied.

Cove Communities, which bought the mobile home park and property for more than $43 million in 2018, will open the 55-plus RV resort on adjacent property. That prospect worried longtime residents, who feared large motorhomes tooling up and down the community’s narrow streets.

But the plan showed Cove would build a separate entrance and exit for RVs, far from the permanent community. Access to the planned Rolling Greens RV resort would come directly off Southeast Baseline Road near the 1700 block.

Fred Roberts, an attorney representing Cove, said the industry has moved to open RV resorts as a complement to the mobile home communities.

Cove operates 21 mobile home and RV resort properties in the US and Canada. The principals behind the company, which formed in 2017, have more than 22 years in the mobile home/RV park industry.

An artist’s rendering of the Rolling Greens RV Resort. The plan for the resort, off Southeast Baseline Road, was approved by the Marion County Commission on March 16

Roberts said the business model is based on drawing recreational vehicle owners to the amenity-filled resort and eventually have them move in when they decide to move on from the RV lifestyle.

Some of the spaces in the RV resort will feature RV-sized park homes for people to rent and possibly purchase. The homes, considered tiny homes, are less than 500 square feet.

The RV resort will take up less than half of the available 145 undeveloped acres at Rolling Greens.

Charles Pennington, a Rolling Greens resident, said he worried about the RV guests overwhelming the community’s amenities, including pools, pickleball courts and the golf course.

Roberts said the plan is to add even more amenities, including another large pool, more pickleball and bocce ball courts and additional horseshoe toss pits.

While residents can own their mobile homes, the lots belong to Cove, which charges lot rents.

The commission voted 4-0 to approve the plan. Commissioner Kathy Bryant did not attend that portion of the meeting.