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Old 10-22-2017, 08:57 AM
 
Location: Gainesville, FL; formerly Weston, FL
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Wanted to get opinions on this new facility which should be completed by 2018. I think it's going to have a positive impact in the Ocala area. I belong to a group that will be looking to host events there when it is built. This area of the state really is like a hidden jewel.
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Old 10-22-2017, 09:28 AM
 
5,687 posts, read 7,113,793 times
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Originally Posted by wizrap View Post
Wanted to get opinions on this new facility which should be completed by 2018. I think it's going to have a positive impact in the Ocala area. I belong to a group that will be looking to host events there when it is built. This area of the state really is like a hidden jewel.
I tend to agree, wiz. Interesting that you mention this, there's a similar thing going on in the Tryon area of North Carolina. I wonder if they're connected?
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Old 10-22-2017, 12:09 PM
 
Location: Gainesville, FL; formerly Weston, FL
3,142 posts, read 3,093,205 times
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Originally Posted by kmarc View Post
I tend to agree, wiz. Interesting that you mention this, there's a similar thing going on in the Tryon area of North Carolina. I wonder if they're connected?
I don’t know. I know they are affiliated with the one in Ohio, near Cincinnati. It sounds like quite a site. There’s an Aveda spa for the humans and other amenities on site—bar-b-q and other restaurants, an RV campground etc. When the horse shows finish in the day they host movie nights for families who can watch from golf carts with the kids and dogs—popcorn and soda included. There’s even beach volleyball!

If the one in Ocala is similar, it should be a great attraction!
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Old 10-22-2017, 12:20 PM
 
529 posts, read 1,161,618 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wizrap View Post
Wanted to get opinions on this new facility which should be completed by 2018. I think it's going to have a positive impact in the Ocala area. I belong to a group that will be looking to host events there when it is built. This area of the state really is like a hidden jewel.
Ahhh, but the devil is in the details. As usual, Marion County does everything arse-backwards.
From the OcalaStar Banner:

Editorial: Roads cannot be an afterthought
10 hours ago
It does not take a traffic engineer to recognize that trucking magnate Larry Roberts' new 2,400-home equestrian community development south of his Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club is going to create a lot more traffic, or that local roads are going to need expanding to handle that new traffic.

It's been a decade since the housing bubble burst and local and state governments began relaxing development standards to give the ailing building industry every break they could. Now that the industry has rebounded, and massive developments like Roberts' are once again changing the face of communities like ours, our local government leaders must rethink their standards in the public's interest.

For example, Roberts plans to build 1,264 single-family homes, another 300 homes on small farms, 835 condos, a 385-room hotel, 200 RV pads, 525,000 square feet of commercial space and arena seating for 10,000 spectators. Obviously, it is a big project. Before Gov. Rick Scott neutered the state Department of Community Affairs and most of its regulatory authority, the Golden Ocala project would have been deemed a "Development of Regional Impact," opening it up to intense scrutiny and thresholds. But no more.

Which brings us back to the traffic. Neighbors of the Roberts project complained to the County Commission this week about the impact the project's associated traffic would have on the area, not to mention their quality of life. Commissioners, for their part, were sympathetic, and much of the conversation was dominated by what should and would be done to ameliorate the problem.

What is puzzling is that Roberts is proceeding with building portions of his massive project, which stretches from U.S. 27 to State Road 40 and is bounded its western edge by Northwest 80th Avenue, without signaling any intent to make road improvements. Instead of putting the entrance to what is being dubbed the World Equestrian Center, with its four arenas and 10,000 seats, on U.S. 27 or S.R. 40, Roberts put the entrance on 80th, a moderately traveled connector road that serves lightly populated neighborhoods.

Now, commissioners ordered their planning staff and Roberts' traffic engineers to come up with a plan, but there was no indication when that plan would come to fruition or who would pay for it. And that is what's the matter with this project and others like it.

80th Avenue, as well as some side streets like 121st Street, are clearly inadequate for the kind of traffic the new development will create. Traffic engineers project that ultimately the project could produce 45,000 trips a day. That is a lot of traffic and it will change the character of the community.

The county and Roberts are now working on a developer's agreement, and it should include widening of 80th, at the very least. Beyond that, the county needs to ensure that much of the cost is shouldered by Roberts, since the county's paltry $1,500-per-home impact fee will not come close to covering the costs of what is needed along 80th alone.

To those who moved to northwest Marion County in search of a bucolic country lifestyle, the World Equestrian Center and its affiliated developments is certainly unwelcome. That said, if development is going to change a way of life, the least that should be required is the roads it will pack be sufficiently expanded up front to handle that traffic.


Dax
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Old 10-22-2017, 12:31 PM
 
529 posts, read 1,161,618 times
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Originally Posted by kmarc View Post
I tend to agree, wiz. Interesting that you mention this, there's a similar thing going on in the Tryon area of North Carolina. I wonder if they're connected?
I believe you were asking about the best quadrant of Marion County, and leaning towards the Northwest, were you not? Ahhhhhhh, Florida. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Dax
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Old 10-22-2017, 03:30 PM
 
5,687 posts, read 7,113,793 times
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Originally Posted by Dax13 View Post


I believe you were asking about the best quadrant of Marion County, and leaning towards the Northwest, were you not? Ahhhhhhh, Florida. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

Dax
LOL! I thought of that the minute I saw your post. That's the thing about Florida, you have to be careful of living near those stretches of undeveloped land.

Ok. NE then. Or learn how to navigate these back roads.
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Old 10-22-2017, 04:30 PM
 
529 posts, read 1,161,618 times
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Originally Posted by kmarc View Post
LOL! I thought of that the minute I saw your post. That's the thing about Florida, you have to be careful of living near those stretches of undeveloped land.

Ok. NE then. Or learn how to navigate these back roads.
Yep. I also think that it will probably be an asset but it seems like everything "developer" in Florida is sold and promoted in a vacuum with little regard for consequences, consistency, or collaboration. In a county that refuses to maintain neighborhood roads without an MTSU assessment because they "can't afford it", how do they get away with NOT pushing the issue of adequate accessibility?

Dax
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Old 10-22-2017, 08:15 PM
 
5,687 posts, read 7,113,793 times
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Originally Posted by Dax13 View Post
Yep. I also think that it will probably be an asset but it seems like everything "developer" in Florida is sold and promoted in a vacuum with little regard for consequences, consistency, or collaboration. In a county that refuses to maintain neighborhood roads without an MTSU assessment because they "can't afford it", how do they get away with NOT pushing the issue of adequate accessibility?

Dax
Dumb question of the day: What is a MTSU assessment? I tried to look it up on line and all I could find was the acronym for Middle Tennessee State University.

Accessibility is everything when it comes to transportation and neighborhoods.
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Old 10-23-2017, 03:37 AM
 
529 posts, read 1,161,618 times
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Originally Posted by kmarc View Post
Dumb question of the day: What is a MTSU assessment? I tried to look it up on line and all I could find was the acronym for Middle Tennessee State University.

Accessibility is everything when it comes to transportation and neighborhoods.
Not dumb at all. Especially when I mangled the acronym. In some communities, the roads are private and owned by the community. Those you would expect the community to have to maintain. But even if the roads are publicly owned, you're still likely to have to agree to tax yourself an additional amount to maintain them. As previously noted on another thread, impact fees were lowered to a ridiculously low amount during the crash and Marion County has refused to increase them. You can see where this is going vis-a-vis the NW area.


From the Marion County Tax Collector:

The Marion County MSTU/Assessment department works with residential groups to procure services or resources in subdivision areas where property owners would like to see improvements.

MSTU/Assessment programs, paid for specifically by those who use the services, offer property owners options to achieve their goals of road paving, road maintenance, street lighting, community centers and more for their subdivisions that would not otherwise be available through general tax dollars.

Department programs include:
- MSTUs (municipal service taxing units; funded by ad valorem (value) taxes).
- MSBUs (municipal service benefit units; funded by non-ad valorem (value) taxes).
- Road improvements.

Did you know?
MSTU/Assessment is responsible for the implementation and management of more than 50 MSTUs and MSBUs within Marion County as well as the employees at each of these locations. Through its road improvements program, the department has been able to assist in the paving of more than 600 miles of roadway within subdivisions in the county.

Dax
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Old 10-23-2017, 07:53 AM
 
5,687 posts, read 7,113,793 times
Reputation: 4326
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dax13 View Post
Not dumb at all. Especially when I mangled the acronym. In some communities, the roads are private and owned by the community. Those you would expect the community to have to maintain. But even if the roads are publicly owned, you're still likely to have to agree to tax yourself an additional amount to maintain them. As previously noted on another thread, impact fees were lowered to a ridiculously low amount during the crash and Marion County has refused to increase them. You can see where this is going vis-a-vis the NW area.


From the Marion County Tax Collector:

The Marion County MSTU/Assessment department works with residential groups to procure services or resources in subdivision areas where property owners would like to see improvements.

MSTU/Assessment programs, paid for specifically by those who use the services, offer property owners options to achieve their goals of road paving, road maintenance, street lighting, community centers and more for their subdivisions that would not otherwise be available through general tax dollars.

Department programs include:
- MSTUs (municipal service taxing units; funded by ad valorem (value) taxes).
- MSBUs (municipal service benefit units; funded by non-ad valorem (value) taxes).
- Road improvements.

Did you know?
MSTU/Assessment is responsible for the implementation and management of more than 50 MSTUs and MSBUs within Marion County as well as the employees at each of these locations. Through its road improvements program, the department has been able to assist in the paving of more than 600 miles of roadway within subdivisions in the county.

Dax
Holy Shakedown, Batman! So you mean that if someone lives in a traditional nabe (non subdivision or non-HOA) and the PUBLIC roads in their area are deteriorating, the people living there have to pay out of pocket for a study to determine what must be done to remedy the situation?
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