WEC’s soccer, baseball, football and concert complex clears final hurdles

Construction workers grade and drop fill dirt at the site where work has already started on the new, massive WEC sports complex north of Highway 40 and near the southwest corner of the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, March 24, 2026. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2026.

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Posted March 23, 2026 | By Belea T. Keeney, [email protected]

In a sparsely attended third and final public hearing about the World Equestrian Center Sports at WEC, the Marion County Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 to allow the expansive sports complex.

The vote during the board’s March 18 Planning & Zoning meeting allows for multiple sports fields, a concert/events center and up to eight concerts per year held in the outdoor venues, with the possibility of up to 24 concerts per year after review by the county. The project spans about 250 acres in the southwest corner of the WEC complex and fronts State Road 40. A portion of it is within the Urban Growth Boundary.

The soccer fields are already under construction on land previously designated for low-density housing and “equestrian estates.” The Comp Plan large-scale text amendments and land-use changes revise low-residential usage to Urban/WEC land use and adds new definitions of sports facilities beyond the equestrian-related amenities already in place.

The nearly five-hour meeting had several public commenters, both for and against the project; a presentation from an attorney representing Charlotte Weber, a neighbor in opposition; and several experts for WEC speaking about noise, light and traffic management. The final board discussion involved sometimes confusing back-and-forth between the board, staff and the applicant. Especially problematic were the restrictions on concerts.

Attorney Jimmy Gooding was the main WEC representative supplemented by discussions with traffic experts, sports league reps and sound experts; along with Wyatt Stephens, director of WEC Sports; Danny Sheldon, a lighting expert; and David Tillman, owner of Tillman & Associates Engineering, a local firm that represents many of the development projects in the county.

Traffic concerns and paid parking

The commissioners approved the overall development application in July 2025 and, as a Development of Regional Impact, the application was sent to the state for review. It was returned with concerns about public facilities regarding water/sewer and the lack of a completed traffic study. That study has since been completed, Gooding said.

The entire WEC Planned Unit Development (PUD) is served by its own water wells and water treatment plant.

With regard to area traffic, Commissioner Kathy Bryant pressed staff about the coming improvements to the future widening of Northwest 70^th/80^th Avenue north of State Road 40 up to U.S. 27 and asked for a timeline.

The county currently has bids out for April, with construction to start in mid-summer or by the end of summer, said County Engineer Steven Cohoon. That portion has a 12-month time frame.

The Florida Department of Transportation has no plans to expand SR 40, the east-west access to the south end of WEC, where the sports complex would be sited.

Because many of WEC’s patrons tow horse trailers, there was discussion about extended turn lanes and the larger turn radius needed for trailers and rigs.

One new element that Gooding mentioned during the traffic discussion was the possibility of parking fees for events. Letting people pay ahead of time for parking, he said, would help alleviate congestion as attendees enter the site. Currently, except for its Winter Wonderland festival, most WEC events have free parking.

Objections and enthusiasm

The first public comment came from attorney Scott McLaren of the Hill Ward Henderson law firm of Tampa, representing Charlotte Weber. His comments highlighted the 16-page objection letter he had sent to the board outlining various concerns about legalities of the changes to the text, the PUD itself and previous agreements.

The Webers have operated Live Oak Stud, a horse farm located just south of SR 40 near the WEC site, for decades and host the annual Live Oak International, a world-renowned horse show, at their farm near SR 40 and Northwest 110^th Avenue. Weber has a vested interest in the project, McLaren stated.

“WEC was created to provide relatively low intensity uses somewhat of rural character. This is not that at all,” McLaren said, referencing events with as many as 10,000 people noted in the application documents. “That’s a lot of people; that’s a lot of traffic.”

McLaren noted that noise from event attendees was virtually uncontrollable as opposed to PA systems. He also objected to the changes in the overall development agreement being proposed.

McLaren reminded the board that Weber has a 2016 settlement agreement that forbids any use for the parcel(s) except equestrian estates.

“The county promised not to rezone this property to a more intense use of more than one unit per three acres,” he said.

County Attorney Guy Minter said, “I don’t recall that it said in perpetuity, we would never (agree) that the property owner could never apply for a new rezoning.”

Commission Chair Carl Zalak confirmed that there was “no moratorium” on rezoning or changes to the PUD, adding, “We can argue that in court.”

McLaren countered, “My client complied with her obligations and, from our perspective, we believe the county should comply with its (obligations). This would remain low-density residential.”

Busy Shires, director of conservation for the local advocacy group Horse Farms Forever, pointed out, “These changed applications for WEC have nothing to do with horses and equine-related activities.” She also said concerts and noise levels were completely incompatible with the surrounding horse farms and rural lands.

One speaker in opposition said, “If I were buying an estate lot, I would be concerned about backing up to a concert facility.”

Another public commenter, Alli Wade, had concerns about concerts not mixing with horse events well. Additionally, Wade said, the current traffic patterns “can’t handle two horse shows at one time” much less additional events. The signage on Northwest 80^th Avenue blocks the exits from the facility right now, she said, making it especially hard for those towing horses and trailers.

Several speakers were in favor of the project, citing their own long commutes to Orlando and Tampa to compete at higher levels in soccer and the benefits of kids learning team sports and having healthy outdoor activities.

Extensive discussion about concerts

After public comment, the details of each agenda item were reviewed. The board’s review about concerts in the new indoor event center and the outdoor areas generated an hour-long discussion. The proposed number of concerts in the indoor events center and new outdoor areas is eight initially, with the possibility of increasing that number to 24 after review by the county.

Steve Fisher, of PSX Incorporated, a sound engineer and noise expert, said sound can be controlled by, for instance, positioning the stage toward the interior of the site not toward neighbors or the road.

“You can also mitigate sound with technology,” he said, such as using digital signal processing that limits the sound waves from the speakers, essentially steering the noise. Low-end bass sounds are the most challenging to control and can be mitigated by focused, special sub-woofers along with limitations for volume control as well to maintain 50-65 decibels. Humans cheering, he said, often generate 80-100 decibels but do so in bursts not steady levels.

The PUD conditions approved included no more than two concerts at one time; the Phase 1 and 2 equestrian estates section shall not be changed; and additional concerts — more than eight per year, either indoor or outdoor — would require county approval.

Discussion among the board members and staff had considerable crosstalk, questions and confusing statements, so much so that even Gooding said he wasn’t sure what the board voted on. A motion to reconsider a previous vote was passed so the board could have further review and clarification about the number of concerts and their locations and handling traffic.

The new outdoor concert areas would be the new soccer stadium, the field behind the new events center and the field behind the current Expo centers.

Shortly after that, Zalak called for a break in the meeting at about 5 p.m. When the board returned, they voted unanimously to approve the PUD and developer’s agreement, allowing for eight concert events and the number of future concerts allowed to be determined by the county after review of previous traffic experiences.  

WEC currently hosts a variety of non-equine events on the property, including summer soccer camps, graduation ceremonies, dog shows, various expo and vendor sales events and open field play soccer for adults on select evenings.