Advisory Boards - Regular Meeting

Hey, nice to talk to you.

Good evening. Planning and zoning is now in session. If you haven't already shut off your cell phone or silenced your cell phone, we would appreciate if you would do that at this time. If anyone has got any hearing problems or are having trouble hearing us and would like a hearing device, if you would raise your hand, I would have a member of staff bring over a hearing device. I see one in the rear. Make that two in the rear. Give us a second. We'll get him down to you.

Yeah.

Danny. If you all would please stand for the invocation first and then the pledge. Michael, if you would please do this for the honors.

Please remove your hats. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this day. We thank you for the privilege it is to live in this great country, in this great state. Thank you, Father, for the opportunity to give us to come together this evening. And we pray that everything in this meeting will be done peacefully and in order. And, God, that you would be glorified through it. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag

Please be seated.

If we can have roll call, please.

Michael Kreuter.

Here.

Greg Lord. Michael Behar.

Here.

Danny Gaikwad.

Here.

Jerry Larenco.

Here.

Andy Bonner.

Here.

Donald Johnson.

Here.

Len Raciopi.

Here.

Paul Steneford.

Here.

Sir, we have a quorum.

Thank you. Do we have acknowledgement of proof of publication and mailing and posting?

We have an affidavit of proof of mailing and posting of notice signed by Charles Veridan, Growth Services Director, and Marion County adds notice of public hearing in Marion County for the Planning and Zoning Commission to consider requests or zoning changes that ran on the Marion County website under legal notices... on 8-17-2026, order number 20260230 and 20260222.

Thank you. Dana, would you mind going over the procedures for us?

Certainly, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. On tonight's agenda, there are several applications, including rezonings that are designated with a Z, some special use permit applications that are designated with an SU, as well as a small-scale comprehensive plan amendment designated with an S. Are you You OK? OK. Rezonings and special use permits are quasi-judicial decisions, and the board must apply the applicable law and basis decision on the evidence presented. For these matters, testimony should be relevant and based on personal knowledge. Qualified experts may offer opinions within their area of expertise. Comprehensive plan amendments are legislative policymaking decisions involving the county's long-range vision for growth and development, including the county's comprehensive plan. The board may consider relevant policy considerations in making those decisions. In all matters, the board must balance the applicable law, the comprehensive plan, land development regulations, and the property rights of affected landowners. On tonight's agenda, you will notice that there are several items on the consent agenda. those are items for which no objections were received prior to tonight the gross services director will read each item if you have a question or an objection please raise your hand when the item is called and it will be pulled for individual consideration if there are no objections the consent items will be approved by a single motion for items considered individually the applicant will speak

Actually, staff will present the case.

The applicant will then come to the podium and present any additional information, and then we will open it up for public comment. Please direct all of your comments and questions to the board, not the applicant or the audience. Each member of the public will have two minutes and only one opportunity to speak per application. Please keep your comments relevant and state your most important information first. Additionally, it's also mindful to be careful of the person before you and not just repeating the same things over and over again. So kind of listen to the people that go ahead of you and bring up new information. After public comment, the applicant may respond to the issues that have been raised, and the public hearing will then be closed, and the board will deliberate and vote. No additional public comment will be taken during deliberations. Please remember that the Board's decisions are not based on the number of people speaking for or against an application, but based on the applicable standards and substantive merit of the information presented. Additionally, on tonight's agenda, which I'm sure a majority of you are here for, the Board will consider an ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium on applications for data center facilities in unincorporated Marion County. This is a legislative action, and public comment may address the policy considerations surrounding the proposed ordinance. Each speaker will again only have two minutes to address the board. Please direct your comments to the board and keep them relevant to the proposed moratorium. The moratorium is a pause on taking applications. And it also outlines the process that the board will follow in setting new regulations within our land development code. As with all public hearings, the board will consider the substance of the comments presented rather than the numbers of speakers for or against the ordinance. So at this time, if you plan on testifying in any of the planning and zoning items tonight, I need you to stand and raise your right hand so you may be sworn in. Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you will give in this proceeding will be the truth and nothing but the truth under penalty of law? Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Chuck, if you would go over the consent agenda with us, please.

Yes, sir. Good evening, Commissioners. Chuck Varian, Director of Growth Services. Before I go through the consent agenda, just a couple items to note. Item 1.4 and 1.5, that is the Kappa Zoli small-scale land use amendment and the Kappa Zoli zoning change has been pulled to be heard individually. So that will not be on consent, but will be heard individually. And then item 2.1 on the other side of the page, that is a special use permit for Van Wagner. That one has been withdrawn, so it will not be heard tonight.

Which one was that again? 2.1. 2.1.

The special use permit. Yes, sir. For Van Wagner. And if you're ready, I'll go through the consent and for the public, they can follow along on the screen and see where these cases are at. So the first item tonight is item 1.1, this case number 260904ZC. This is for Bonnie Taylor. It's a zoning change from general agriculture A1 to single family dwelling R1. Zone for all permitted uses. It's a little over a half acre parcel. Parcel account number is 4596-011-109. Site address is 14660 Southeast 100th Avenue, 100th Avenue, sorry. Summerfield, Florida, 34491. And one other note, if you're following along on the case, we did include the plan number. That's an internal number that if people are referencing this case in the future, it's easier for them to go into the system to look it up. So just to note, that's that PL number that's in parentheses in each one of them. Going on to item 1.2. This is case number 260905ZC, SOB RELLC, zoning change from Regional Business B4 to Rural Residential RR1. Zoning for all permitted uses. It's a .23 acre parcel. Parcel account number is 2003-102-010. Site address is 15894 Southwest 41st Street Road, Ocala, Florida, 34481. Going on to the next one, item 1.3. This is case number 260906, ZC, Eric and Kristen Wilson, as well as Tucker and Miranda Miseritz. Sorry. Zoning change from heavy business, sorry, from heavy industrial M2 to rural residential RR1. Zone for all permitted uses. It's a 3.71 acre parcel. Parcel account number is 4941-005-001. Site addresses are 14263 and 14265 Southeast 155th Street and 15415 Southeast 142nd Court, Wearsdale, Florida 32195. And then, like I said, 1.4, 1.5 will be heard individually. And then the last one for consent on the other side of the page is item 1.6. This is case number 260908ZP. Tillman & Associates LLC, on behalf of the property owners John and Karen Zacco, are requesting a zoning change to amend the existing planned unit development commonly known as Cypress Point Phase 1 and 2 to change from 161 approved townhomes and villas to 337 single family dwellings, as well as modifying the buffers. It's 103.07 acre tract. Parcel account numbers are 35699-004-00, as well as 35695-032-00 and 35695-032-02. And 35700-000-27. And finally, 35700-000-28. And no address is assigned for that last one. So these are for your consideration. Thank you.

So if anyone would like any of these or any of these pulled from the consent agenda, please raise your hand. If not, they'll just move over to the county commissioner's meeting and they'll be approved here tonight. I don't see any hands. I'll bring it back to this board and I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

I, Andy Bonner, approve. Make a motion. Second.

I have a motion. I have a second. All in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion carries.

Good afternoon. Kathleen Brignoli, Growth Services. This is going to be case 25S05. This is the Capozzoli amendment. And it also has the concurrent rezoning to PUD running with it as well. So this is for owner Linda Capozzoli. Agent is master stereo engineering. The parcel is 19.62 acres. This request is for a future land use map amendment from low residential to medium residential. Parcel currently is General Agriculture A1 for zoning. Again, 19.62 acres. It is located within the urban growth boundary, and it is within the secondary springs protection overlay zone. That is the subject parcel. You'll see to the west, on top of the world, and then to the east is Highway 200. Future land use currently is low residential, which allows for one dwelling unit per acre. The request being made is medium residential, which would allow one to four dwelling units per acre. There is a similar land use to the west. This is Westwood Trails. This was a PUD that was approved, I believe, in 2025. And then further to the west is Hibiscus Park. And this is high residential, which is four to eight dwelling units per acre. The existing property code per Marion County property appraiser is that this is currently ag production. The other green that you see in the area is also ag production. All of the yellow is going to be single-family residential. Here are just some photos, the signposting, as well as some views looking west and east on Southwest 80th Street. And then the subject parcel, as it is currently, it does have a home and some accessory structures on it. And then this is at the rear of the property looking south towards that Southwest 80th Street. This is kind of the back pasture area of it currently. As far as the amendment criteria, these were some of the ones that we were looking at when reviewing this request. Just a few off the top, 1.1.5, the higher density intensity uses. Those are for the policy. It provides that the county shall require higher densities and intensities of development to be located within urban growth boundaries. in areas where public or private facilities and services are required to be available. Property is within the urban growth boundary, and it does have availability to central water and sewer services. The medium residential request, again, based on our policy with a comprehensive plan, We ask that it be within the urban growth boundary. And it is primarily suited for single family residential, which is the request being made. We'll see that with the PUD. And then also the planning principles within the comprehensive plan. We're looking to direct that growth to existing facilities and link neighborhoods together. So for those reasons, staff and, of course, the consistency with Chapter 163 of the Florida State Statutes, staff was recommending approval of the land use amendment. And if you'd like, I can go into the rezoning.

OK. Kathleen. Yes. Can I ask you a question?

Sure.

Related to this case tonight, can you tell me how many other homes I've already been approved for Melody Preserve and Westwood Trails.

Sure, absolutely. I've actually got a slide coming up for that. I'm going to skip to it really quick just so I can show you. This is the residential development in the area. So this is the subject parcel. You'll see immediately to the west, Villa Verde. That was the name for Westwood Trails previously. That's approved for 72 residential units. Further to the west, Melody Preserve. That was approved for 233 residential units.

So that's a total of 600? 305.

305.

Okay. My point is this project today will add another 71 homes. Correct. To the traffic on Southwest 80th Street. 80th Street is a narrow two-lane road with no shoulders with a posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour. I travel this street and road almost daily. So the problem is going east on 80th Street, which ends at State Road 200, you've got to go across three lanes of traffic to get into the turn lane to go north on 200 going toward Ocala. I've seen numerous accidents at this location. My question is, is there any movement in the engineering department to put a traffic signal at Southwest 80th Street and Highway 200?

So I will say that one of the conditions with the PUD is that if approved, they have to enter into a developer's agreement with the Office of the County Engineer for traffic mediation, meaning possible realignment and signalization of that.

OK. This street, like I say, is a narrow two-lane road street. It not only takes traffic from these communities that we've already mentioned. This is a shortcut from 80th Avenue to 200. That's why people take it. Not only do we get traffic from on top of the world, Indigo East, Stone Creek, Liberty Village, even Kalisa. People don't want to go up to the high school and go 20 miles an hour and go up that way. So this is a critical area that needs a traffic control device or traffic light.

Yes, we do have the applicant here as well to speak about it, but I will say there's also a condition in there for right-of-way. They will be donating, I believe it was 35 feet, we'll look at the condition in a moment, to right-of-way with plans to four-lane that road.

Is there any condition in this that there will be a traffic light installed if this project is approved tonight?

It does not specifically state signalization. It just says a developer's agreement with OCE for traffic mediation, whatever that may be, depending on what the county engineer deems to be appropriate for it. So signalization could be, but it doesn't specifically spell out signalization.

Okay, you understand the critical nature. I mean, we're talking about, I don't know how many cars the traffic study, but it was done in 25. It was, yep. 2025. So in a year's time, there's been many homes that have been built on this street.

Yes, understood. And I don't know. We do have Chris here from Traffic, Chris Eagler.

Okay. I'd like to hear

Chris Ziegler, Traffic Operations Manager, Office of the County Engineer. As far as the study is concerned, it was conducted last fall, but it was conducted for a build-out year of 2030. So that took into account all that potential growth in the background traffic from 2025 through their build-out year of 2030.

I mean, right now, this street, 80th, Southwest 80th Street, is under construction as well as 80th Avenue just being widened to four lanes. And there's construction going on on both ends. So, you know, something needs to be done. Possible.

Yes and I think as was stated we do have one of their conditions is one to donate right away for 80th Street for that potential future widening and then also to provide through a developer's agreement provide funding for an intersection improvement at 80th Street and State Road 200.

So when will 80th Street be widened? Do you have any idea?

I don't have a schedule on that right now. It is part of our sales tax. It's just not within our five year work program at this point in time.

Thank you.

So this is 260907ZP. This is the companion rezoning from general agriculture to planned unit development for a maximum of 71 detached single family homes. And this is, again, 19.62 acres. So this is just showing should the land use amendment take place, it would be medium residential, one to four dwelling units per acre with the current zoning of general agriculture. is currently, or I'm sorry, this would be the proposed zoning for a planned unit development, which would be similar to the Westwood Trails that's to the west. It is currently being used for ag production. This was that map that we just saw with Melody Preserve to the far west, immediately adjacent the Westwood Trails, formerly known as Villa Verde. Those were the residential developments that are closest to this project. Concept plan provided was 72 single-family homes. They would be connecting to Marion County utilities for central water and sewer. There are sidewalks internal along one side of the internal street. Amenities that were proposed with the PUD package were a covered open-air pavilion, playground, water fountain, parking area, along with a community garden and a dog walking area. Open space for outdoor activities and exercise. And they also have an eight foot multimodal path along Southwest 80th Street. Westwood Trails also has one similar. So I believe the intent is for those to connect. For development standards, these were the setbacks that were provided along with accessory setbacks. The max building height is 40 feet for residences. However, they do have an added condition that they proposed for the PUD. Any homes that are within 100 feet of the northern or eastern boundary, those are limited to single-family homes. Those cannot be two-story. Buffers are as proposed. So it's an E-type, which is a 5-foot wide buffer to the north along the roadways. To the east and south are the standard C-type buffer, 15 feet wide. And then to the west, there is a 5-foot E-type buffer with a 6-foot opaque fence that's being proposed there as well. These either meet or exceed what's required by the land development code. As far as fire and EMS, these were the travel times that were provided, the number of incidences per unit, and then overlapping incidents. So they are falling within what's considered the green or acceptable area, the incidents per unit falling under the threshold where they would be required to have additional units budgeted for that particular area. Same thing for the EMS. So getting more into the traffic, as was previously stated, that traffic assessment that was provided was approved in October of 2025. That's when this was brought before the board previously. So they are proposing two access points, one on Southwest 80th Street and then one connecting to the west, to Westwood Trails. The vested traffic that was included in that traffic assessment included the Westwood Trails and Melody Preserve. And then, again, this was mentioning something about proportionate share. So this was going to be the mitigation for traffic, whatever that developer's agreement is that comes out of what OCE requires. And then these are the figures that were provided. So it would be a little bit less just because 72 dwelling units was what was previously asked for in 2025. 71 is the number of dwelling units currently being asked for along with the daily trips. And then the AM peak and PM peak figures for that. When the traffic assessment was done, it was taking into consideration both the build-out year of 2030 and then also that signalization. With that, all study area intersections were anticipated to operate acceptably prior to and with addition of the project traffic. Again, that was taking into account that there was some sort of signalization and realignment that was included as part of that traffic assessment. These are just some of the site photos again. And this shows, this is the back area of the subject property. And you can see the roadway that's abutting it. This is in that Westwood Trails right of way. This just shows the Westwood Trails project. And then this is showing that multimodal path, which is the same type of multimodal path that's being proposed along Southwest 80th for this project. As far as the rezoning criteria, it's consistent with those comprehensive plan provisions here. We mirrored some of those off of the land use amendment as well for that reason and it being within that urban growth boundary with the central water and sewer services. Staff does not believe it would adversely affect public interest and it is compatible with the surrounding uses as a request is to develop single family homes. and a growing area within the urban growth boundary between On Top of the World and Southwest Highway 200. Staff did recommend approval with conditions. I'm happy to go through those conditions with you if you'd like.

Sure.

So access is going to be Southwest 80th Street down here. And then the other access is going to be up here connecting to the PUD to the west. That goes to west of here?

Correct. That's residential, correct?

Which is going to be, I believe that one is 72 dwellings. So it's going to be of similar size. It's also a medium residential PUD. It is.

Anyone else have any questions?

Any other questions?

If not, we can hear from the applicant.

Okay. Thank you.

We can have the applicant come up.

I have a PowerPoint. All right, thank you very much. My name is Chris Roper. I'm an attorney with the Ackerman Law Firm, address of 420 South Orange Avenue, Orlando, Florida, 32801. Here tonight on behalf of the property owner is Linda Capozzoli. She's a longtime owner of this property and a widow whose husband passed away several years ago. This case came before you last year. The comp plan amendment was ultimately denied by the Board of County Commissioners due to the intersection issue that's been raised. And we have several slides to discuss that. And our traffic engineer is with us tonight to go over it. We did file a lawsuit. It was implemented through a settlement agreement. And that allowed us to come back and reapply. And so that's why we're here tonight. We are back with a slightly revised project. And the key features of that project include 71 units, which is one fewer unit than the previous application. It's still a 20-acre infill site inside the urban growth boundary. The proposed density of 3.6 units to the acre is actually less density than the neighboring Westwood Trails that's been approved and is currently under construction. We're proposing a two acre amenity area, which is larger than the adjacent Westwood Trails amenity area. We have an eight foot wide multi-use trail, which exceeds the county requirement for a five foot wide sidewalk. And we're proposing two acres to set aside for the future widening of Southwest Adia Street that contains future right-of-way dedication plus about an acre and a half for the county's drainage needs when they do widen that road. And I think we all know the widening is needed because Southwest 80th Street serves as one of the main entrance roads to On Top of the World, which is the county's largest DRI with entitlements for over 30,000 single-family units, residential units, 400,000 square feet of commercial, 250 hotel rooms. It just kind of goes on. And then the applicant did agree to a condition that would require proportionate share payment from the project that could be applied towards a future signal at the intersection. There's actually flexibility built into that condition that would allow the county to apply the funds at another signal that's being talked about around the corner at Southwest 82nd Street. That's a project called Laurel Commons. And they are proposing a signal there and a connection that would link into Southwest 80th Street. And so they would direct that traffic away from the intersection at 80th and 200 down to 82nd and 200 in front of Laurel Commons. So... One reason that we're going through this process is because there is need for more single family housing in this part of the county. The demand study shows that Southwest State Road 200 sub market is growing at a 5.6% growth rate per year compared to 2% for the overall growth rate of the county. The current need is almost 1,600 housing units over the next five years. That demand study is in the packet. This is a compatibility map. The Capozzoli property is outlined in red. It's the proverbial hole in the donut. It's virtually surrounded by other development. And this map here is the latest available, and it's two years old. But it still does a good job of showing that what we're proposing is infill development. And it's the type of developments encouraged by the comprehensive plan. In zooming in, you can see that the Capozzoli property sits inside the urban growth boundary, right in between on top of the world, which is approximately 2,000 feet to the west, and State Road 200, approximately 3,000 feet to the east. You can see that this is obviously a growing corridor, as evidenced by all the development that's happening. And it's proximate to State Road 200, which means jobs and employment are a short drive away. The proposed development is also compatible with the adjacent parcels, including Westwood Trails. We're showing a perimeter buffer with larger buffers concentrated on the north and the east sides, where there are larger homes that exist to the north and across Southwest 72nd Court to the east. We're also proposing to limit the height of the homes on the north and east boundaries to single story to improve compatibility. The design, as you can see, is a mirror image of the Westwood Trails adjacent to the west, except, like I said, we have more amenities and more open space. And the two projects are designed to connect with one another, as Kathleen had pointed out. This is a picture looking west from the Capozzoli property to Westwood Trails. Their site is under construction. You can see that their internal roads have been put in place. And you can see that their internal road is stubbed out to the boundary of the Capozzoli property. It's already there. This is the horizontal development. They still have 69 homes to build. Miss Capozzoli operates a horse farm on her property. The construction that's been happening next door has already interfered with her ability to conduct that horse farm. And like I said, there's still 69 more homes to go. So the impact on her business is another reason besides the need for this. the impact on her business and the reason for why we wanted to reapply before the one-year window. We had to get it in here because she's having a hard time. So to summarize, the request is need-based. It is compatible with the surrounding uses. And it is consistent with the relevant criteria and the comprehensive plan and the county's land development code.

Staff recommends approval.

And this would be Amber Gardner to talk about the traffic.

Hello, good evening. Amber Gartner with Kimley Horn, 1700 Southeast 17th Street, Suite 200, Ocala, Florida, 34471. As was mentioned by Ms. Bagnoli, we have conducted a few different traffic analysis related to this development. What you see on the screen is the trip generation comparison of What would be allowed with today's proposed, with today's existing future lane use, what the proposed future lane use would be at the maximum, and then what is currently being proposed on the development, which the 71 dwelling units. So the difference in what is being proposed compared to what could be constructed there today is less than 50 PM peak hour trips. And then when you further distribute that between in and out trips, and then distribute that east and west on 80th Street, the concern I heard about 80th Street at State Road 200, that's only 18 additional trips in the p.m. peak hour heading in that eastbound direction, one car about every three minutes. Southwest 80th Street itself, I know there are plans. It's in the Surtax project list for Marion County to widen that roadway in the future. That is a larger out plan in need for this area as you look at redundant transportation network. But it is currently a local street. So if you look at what the allowable volume on that road would be, it's 540 cars in one direction in a peak hour. so as we look through the 2030 build out so that includes um existing background traffic that's been occurring from on top of the world and other developments adding in melody preserve and then adding in westwood trails we are still only consuming approximately 55 percent of that service volume at the build out of this project with the 71 units So there still is sufficient capacity on that road as you look through the build-out of this project, even though the county is planning for it into the longer-term future, and this project will help by dedicating right away for that cause. So now talking about Southwest 80th Street at 0200, that intersection is an FDOT intersection and it is very common for DOT to implement this sort of access management within their corridors. So what we can see here is 80th Street, it was at one time a full median opening, meaning you could come and turn left and go northeast on State Road 200 from 80th Street. Probably about five years ago, FDOT made a modification and put median restriction in there, so now you have to turn right. and make a U-turn at 82nd Street. And you can see that 82nd Street has a very similar scenario and configuration. And the reason this is, is because it reduced conflict points and that increases safety. And it is more in line with their spacing standards, which requires a half mile spacing between signals. So this is, you know, kind of looking at the whole picture of the distance between this intersection and the signal at 65th is only 1,400 feet. So that's why there's been some discussions between the county and FDOT as to where should a signal be placed. And it's a more holistic approach to the transportation network in the area of which this project would contribute proportionate share towards that improvement. And just highlighting some other examples across the county. Again, this is very common for state road facilities and minor street roads. So this happens at Rotary Sportsplex. Here's another example in the city of Ocala at 43rd Court, right at the current 44th extension that was just constructed. And then near this particular intersection at the 73rd Street at 0200. So again, it's a very common practice and intersection control on these more major state roadways to implement that access management and to reduce conflicts and increase safety. So as we look at the intersection of 80th Street at 0200, looking into the background situation, so before we add project traffic from this development, we are showing a level service F. Now what that means is level service F in the definition of a stop controlled is anything greater than 60 seconds. So if you're waiting longer than 60 seconds, which is going to be very common at these minor street intersections at major corridors during the P&P hour, That would be representative level service F. That does not automatically equate to the installation of a traffic signal because there are other things that have to be met. You have to have a certain number of volume or you have to have a crash history. You have to meet those spacing standards. And this project traffic only represents about 1.5% of total traffic at the intersection with only 18 trips in that critical movement. So looking at the way it's projected to operate in the 2030 build-out, it will not adversely impact operations on State Road 200. And if you can see, this red line represents the anticipated queues. So even with that queuing, it's not expected to adversely impact any other operations or businesses along 80th Street. So that concludes our evaluation and just concluding that we are not having a significant impact on 80th Street, significant adverse. There's still sufficient capacity remaining for this project. And through that proportionate share payment, we are contributing towards a fix for the overall area for all the developments around here.

Thank you. Does anyone have any?

Yeah. What time did your traffic study, what time was it done? I'm just curious because when I go through there between 8 and 9, there's more than two or three Automobiles back.

In the morning?

Yes.

So we did.

In the morning and also in the afternoon.

So we did an AM analysis, which is between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. And then we did a p.m., which is between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. So for that critical movement, the eastbound approach, it is actually more critical in the p.m. peak hour because of the southbound traffic on 200 conflicting with that right turning traffic. Now, in the morning, your travel patterns are reversed. So you have the critical pattern on 200 going northeast, conflicting with the eastbound right off of 80th. So your morning peak hour is not as critical as far as in operations.

I mean, to cut across three lanes and people are going, driving 65 to 70 miles an hour down 200, I mean, it's like a speedway. So, you know, I'm just, I mean, I do it on a daily basis.

We did also pull crash data, so I do have that information. We pulled it from January 2021 through December 2025. There were no crashes in 2025 recorded at this intersection based on the public data from the Signal 4 database. But there were some crashes ranging, you know, one to three per year in the 2021 to 2025.

There have been some in 2026, I can assure you.

Please. Anyone else have any other questions? OK, we'll have you sit back down, and we'll see if we kind of opposition we have. We're going to go ahead and open up the public portion of the hearing. This will allow anyone that would like to come up that opportunity to do so for two minutes. Is anyone in favor that would like to come up? Is anyone in opposition that would like to come up? Please come on up, and we'll have you sign in, and then we'll have you state your name and address for the record.

My name is Joyce McElrath. We live at 7575 Southwest 72nd Court in Ocala. My husband and Sam are opposed to this development going in there.

Excuse me just one second. We're going to open up the second podium as well. So you can split up between this side and that side over there. And then you can start signing in. So when we switch over, you'll be ready to go. And we're going to start your time over. I do apologize.

No problem. You want me to tell name and everything over?

No, you can just start.

Well, anyway, we live in a development that is anywhere from 2 to 10 acres in the whole surrounding area. We're talking off of 72nd Court where we live. That's 2 to 10 acres. And down the street from Capozzoli and across the street down the street to 200 is another 2 to 10 acres. So it's all... uh... agriculture and people with horses and animals in central like that now miss casper's only wants to put out developing in there that's going to be a lot of street lights and a lot of traffic coming out of there because they're having seventy one cars Because mostly every family has at least one car. On top of the world, just put 130 houses down there. And Westwood Trails has 71 houses. That's almost 546 cars possibility that could be coming back on that road. So with all of this being agriculture, it's just one more thing we're losing on Marion County horse farms in the area. And the traffic over at the corner of 200. I almost got hit by a semi this morning. Obviously, he forgot to turn. He was on the right-hand lane. And all of a sudden, he was over in my lane. And I was at the corner of 280. Talk about being scared. I mean, I'm scared being here right now. But that was real scary. Let's see what else I got. Oh, how's that going to change our property values and such? Already we know that they're wanting to put water and sewer down our little 72nd court. There's about 10 to 15 families down there. Most of those families are 65 to 75. We have a 95-year-old lady down there. How are we going to be able to afford all of this?

I'm going to have you time this up because the red light came on. You did a great job.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Cheryl McLean, 7551 Southwest 79th Street. On behalf of the property owners in Hibiscus Park, I'd like to share our concerns regarding the traffic. While the current widening project on Southwest 80th Avenue, along with the realignment work at the intersection of Southwest 77th Court and Southwest 80th Street is underway, this is only going to increase the traffic load on Southwest 80th Street feeding Highway 200. We also have increased traffic with the homes that are going to be built in Melody Preserve and Westwood Trails. The temporary modification that was made back in 2019, which is more than five years ago, on Highway 200 by the Florida Department of Transportation directing us to make a right-hand turn on Highway 200 and make the U-turn at the next median opening has become very dangerous with the traffic coming out of the new Laurel Commons community. They too are trying to cross three lanes at the same time to traffic to make a U-turn at Southwest 80th Street median in order to go southbound. Not to mention trying to navigate the vehicles cutting through the convenience store parking lot and the U-Haul facility. We do understand that we are in the urban growth area and that our rural atmosphere will continue to be impacted. However, we feel strongly that until Southwest 80th Street is improved and the traffic signal is installed for our safety, the project should not move forward. From the Florida Department of Transportation, we've been in contact with them. They sent us letters. They said that there is no money for funding for the design or the construction. So for our safety, we're very concerned. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thomas Pender, 7564 Southwest 77th Place, Ocala. The young lady who spoke just before me hit on some of the numbers I was talking about. The Melody Project today, I just went through, they've already got over 100 houses out of the ground right now. With all the construction traffic and everybody coming in there, that's not even an impact of people moving in just yet. So with them, with their 240 houses, that's two cars per house. And between westward that's coming in right now, that's almost 700 cars that's going to be on the road this time next year. Plus deliveries, you know, pool people, whatever else is going to be coming in there. And when she made the comment a while ago about waiting more than 60 seconds, I sat at 200 for almost seven or eight minutes just trying to make a right-hand turn there. And like the young lady said just a minute ago, too, people cutting through the gas station or going through U-Haul. You know, it's just out of control. And before any more is done, that light needs to be done or something needs to be done at 200. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Hi, Patricia Hughes, 7798 Southwest 75th Avenue, Ocala, Florida. I live in Hibiscus Park also. I'm just going to be very quick. Right now, they're closing the road on Southwest 80th because they're doing work closer to 80th Avenue. I live where everybody's turning, so they turn. I have between 8 o'clock and 8.30 in the morning, I have at least 100 cars drive by my house. 100. 100. And that's just coming one way on that road. It's too many cars and not enough. You've got to get the infrastructure. Thank you.

Thank you.

Rosalie, 4 Acres, 7385 Southwest 80th Street, Ocala, Florida, 34476. I'm leaving that little block that is cut out of the other property that was done.

In between the two subdivisions, the one that's being built.

She needs to. Got it. Construction. Road construction needs to be done first before you put all these houses in there. It's getting so bad. It's only 60 seconds. I've sat 60 seconds in my driveway trying to get out on Southwest 80th Street. And it takes me five minutes to get down the road and to make the turn and go north. So they've all said the rest of the things. Please do something before you build more houses.

Hi, Jimmy Gooding, 1531 Southeast 36th Avenue, Ocala. You asked if there was anybody in favor of this. I didn't stand up, and then you asked against it, and I didn't stand up, but I figured I better talk because it looks like they're about done. I wanted to give you all some information about a solution to 80th Street that is in the works.

Can I use your thing and show me which button I push?

Top one? Okay. Okay. The problem with 80th Street, of course, is this intersection right here. There's a group of my client and others who are proposing these property owners here dedicating right-of-way and these property owners down here building the road to connect to 80th so that it can align with State Road 200 at a 90-degree angle. Well, I haven't gotten to that. We have the agreement ready to go to the county. It will probably be submitted next week. It's months away from happening. I don't want to make you think it's a sure thing. I just wanted to give you a heads up to a possible solution to the 80th Street problem. I don't know how important that is for your decision today or not, because it's not a done deal. But what would happen here is DOT originally was considering putting in a light here. Instead, they did the funky thing that they did. This would be a great location for a light, and it would form a 90-degree angle. Just information for y'all. No, I appreciate it. Like I said, we have a group of people who are proposing to do that, and I just figured that may be information for y'all to consider.

Yeah, thank you. All right, unless someone else would like to come up, I'm going to close the public portion of the hearing. And I'll ask the applicant then please to come back up if they would like to address any of the concerns they've heard.

For the record, Chris Roper, a couple questions or concerns came up. One was the existing agricultural lots in the area. And admittedly, there are some. There are also a lot of single family developed lots in the area as well. It's obviously transitioning. And that's because we're following the county's rules. This is where the growth is being directed pursuant to the county's comprehensive plan. This is the vision coming to life. And there's going to be There's going to be some sand in the oyster, right? There's pearls, but there's also going to be some grit. And so we do the best that we can to deal with compatibility and put those bufferings around the perimeter, limit our houses to the one story also around the perimeter, so that when you're driving by, it looks as similar as possible to what else is already out there. The other concern obviously was traffic. Now, traffic is a tough one because traffic can be very subjective. One person's very busy road, 100 cars, is another person's, oh, that's not very much traffic at all. especially when you're on a county-maintained public road that's two lanes, that does meet county standards. This is not a substandard county road. The county has invested millions of dollars to build these roads, and people complain when it's being used. Objectively, the traffic study shows less than 50% of the available capacity of this road is actually being utilized, even with the introduction of this project. That's the roadway capacity. There are some inevitable delays at the intersection, but that's common. When you have a two-lane road intersecting with a major four-lane highway, you can expect some delays on that turning movement. And rather than throw up a new traffic signal, DOT has decided to make it a directional movement. It's a ride-in, ride-out only. It's what they consider the standard. It's safer than a full median, having cars go left out of there. Have them go right out. They can pull the U-turn when they feel it's safe to do so. They don't have to weave to the nearest U-turn location. They can continue down south and make the U-turn where they feel safer. What we haven't even talked about is there's an alternate route if you head west to 80th Avenue, then south to 90th. There's a signal there. So if you don't feel comfortable going to the intersection at 80th and 200, four minutes out of your way, you can go the other direction to the signal at Aldi and Lowe's. Again, this is a network of county roads. They've invested a lot of money into it. And I'm sorry if we're going to put some cars on it. That's all I have. Thank you very much.

Anyone have any additional questions you want to ask? I have one question. Go ahead.

You know, staff can answer. How many homes, when we put it that we call growth corridor, I remember we talked about it something, is that 25,000 or something like that on that Highway 200 whole stretch?

More than that. More than that, right? 30,000. On top of the world has over 30,000.

Top of the world has 30,000.

Is that the capacity of Southwest Highway 200 you're referring to?

Yeah, you know, we are approving right and left, both the side on Highway 200, all the way interior, exterior. I think it was 25 or 30,000. No? No? Top of the world has already 30,000, right? Yeah, but there's only 10,000 homes. Yeah, that's what I mean.

Mr. Gayquad, Tracy Straub, Assistant County Administrator. I do understand the question you're asking, and I have not produced that number in several years for this corridor, so I apologize. It's not on the top of my mind. Your...

I think we are expecting in north of 25, 30,000 residents coming there and that's why we created that growth corridor.

So you're on top of the world as a vested community. And I want to say within the next 10 years, I believe there's a 30,000 number in my mind. 32,000? 32,000. And that's vested, right? We cannot deny them that. But at the same time, you have to be mindful of other properties that are within the urban growth boundary. that you cannot take away their right to develop as well. When we have identified, there's failed road networks that they are not responsible for correcting. And then there's roads that we have identified are being improved, such as we've identified Southwest 80th Avenue. It's in construction today. 80th Street is actually in design in another year or two. I don't remember the exact year, but it's in our five-year plan for design. And then we don't have construction fully funded for that. But we are being mindful of everything that's going on out there right now and the opportunities when to get that four-lane construction in. And then projects like this, of course, have to play into that conversation.

So my point is that no matter which way you go, you're going to have more homes and more homes and more homes. And you buy your houses. You need to ask your realtor. What growth is coming? Because you see empty land and you assume that is going to stay a farm. It's not going to stay. That's a growth corridor, and we're going to have tens and tens of thousands homes coming, no matter which way you look at it. My sympathies with all this people, but I really get worried because they have absolute no idea how much more is coming. Some of them are ahead of time. They should have worked on a comprehensive plan when the city, when the county is making, you know, but nobody shows up. Nobody speaks up. So this is nothing. You've got another 30, 40,000. You've got a horse farm.

Right up the street here. I mean, you know, they've built, they've come in with these in the last year. I mean, you've still got horse farms, people living on five and ten acres.

It doesn't matter. We are not here to force, and I'm not here on this side or that side. I'm just stating the facts. There's another 30,000, 40,000 homes coming, not 71,000, 30,000, 40,000. So no matter what you do, we cannot take away that.

Understand when you you combine on top of the world Indigo East Stone Creek and every one of them look at it How many oh, I'm here for is a traffic signal.

I don't think it's in our the best part of PUD County can force them to do the traffic study is that and all of that the best way to have a neighborhood to have a PUD because they the county will work and with the developer and make sure they do right things. Look at it. They're giving two acres of land. Somebody else, Jimmy Gooding, just said, our attorney, that there is another road coming. It's not that, but it's very difficult. And I understand. But it's just when you buy the house or when you sell the house, you think of it. Most of the people don't. That includes me. I've been stuck on 484 for a while. The road cannot grow, cannot grow. It's been two miles of traffic.

There's been a lot of growth in the last couple of years.

You know, guys, it's the same people over and over again. And I really don't want to ask for the officers in the back to remove you. And I pretty well can see the same people again. So please, be respectful. You're not here to clap. It's not going to influence us over here. OK?

Really, staff should start by saying, this is a growth corridor. This many homes are approved. This many more coming. That's a public knowledge. And you can say it. And it may help. You know, it's just aggravating to all of them. Because car can go. And I'm one of them. Thank you, but that's what I thought to put it here. The growth is here.

Before I bring it back to this board, does anyone else have anything else they would like to ask? Then I'll bring it back to this board. And we are talking about right now we're doing 1.4 first.

And then automatically.

And then automatically we'll go to 1.5. So I would entertain a motion.

I might be able to unmute you.

Absolutely. You have to unmute.

I believe you're muted.

You need to speak in the microphone.

You got to unmute it.

Oh, there it is. I'm sorry. I, Mike Behar, disagree with staff's findings and recommendation. Hereby recommend denial of the requested future land use amendment based on the following findings and facts. It is not consistent with Marion County Comprehensive Plan and is not consistent with Chapter 163 Florida statutes.

I have a motion. Do I have a second?

I, Andy Bond, second the motion.

All in favor? Aye. All opposed, please raise your hand. I panic. What is this for or against? Against.

You are against the staff or you are denying the request? Raise your hand. I'm not against.

The motion is so the motion is a motion for denial of the application Recommended approval so you have I made a motion denial of that And who is in favor?

3 to 3. So it'll go to the county commissioners and they'll make the decision there.

So with the tie vote on that, do we do the next one also?

I would recommend in light of the tie vote to still go forward on the PUD application as well.

On 1.5.

I anticipate it's going to be similar.

That's a rezoning. Rezoning one.

I might be our disagree with staff's findings and recommendation hereby recommend denial of the requested rezoning based on the following findings and facts. It will adversely affect the public interest, is not consistent with the Marion County Comprehensive Plan, and is not compatible with the surrounding land use. I have a motion.

Do I have a second?

Aye. Anybody on a second? Second.

I have a second. All in favor of the motion? Aye.

10-3.

Same three. Opposed? So it will go to the county commissioners, and they will be the ones to make the decisions.

And that will be October 6th, just to confirm.

Thank you. I would like to remind everyone, you know, we're an all-volunteer board up here. We're not taking sides. You really don't need to make these type of comments. We're here to listen to everyone. We live here in Marin County. I am a resident of Marin County for close to 40 years, 35 for sure. I really care about my community. I want to hear from everyone. We're not looking for the clapping. And we're trying to filter through all of that so we can just hear the facts.

Thank you. There you go, baby.

Just got a few more people. Go ahead.

Good afternoon, Commissioners. Jared Rivera with Marion County Growth Services. This is case number 260901SU, a special use permit for outdoor storage of vehicles in a community business B2 zone. This is on a parcel owned by MOSF Incorporated, with the applicant being Mr. Byron Flagg, address being 150 Marion Oaks Boulevard, Ocala, Florida, 34473. Now, just for a reference of this commission, this is in southwest Marion County to the west of the intersection of I-75, Interstate 75 and Highway 484. This is a large master plan community. And as we'll see, it's located within, along Marion Oaks Boulevard on a parcel approximately 5.48 acres. The reason why this is on individual consideration is because originally we had had some last minute difficulties with regards to the property owner, property ownerships, but we have since gotten that fixed. And so we'll see a staff recommendation in a bit. Just so for reference, this is located on Marion Oaks Boulevard. You can see here, this is actually a pretty large commercial node in Marion Oaks. It's very underdeveloped at this point, but the site has been almost fully developed with, as you can see to the rear, you can see some outdoor storage. And along the front, Marion Oaks Boulevard, you can also see some outdoor storage as well as some U-Haul rental areas. And then the center of the site is primarily many warehouses. Just a bit more information about the surrounding areas. You can more clearly see here the boundaries of the commercial area here in Marion Oaks Boulevard. The surrounding areas is primarily commercial designation with a B2 zoning. You can more clearly see here the existing development within this node. You can see that a lot of the sites have not been developed yet, although there are some scattered areas of development, including the subject parcel, which has been classified as industrial by a property appraiser, but it's the mini storage. So you can see here the site plan back in the, just for a bit of context, back in the early 2000s, this site had been, the mini storage portion had been primarily finished, but by the late 2010s and early 2020s, the outdoor storage areas had begun to move in. And earlier this year there had been a code enforcement case due to that outdoor storage. The applicant came in with a new special use permit application to request to formally approve that outdoor storage area. And as you can see right now, most of the outdoor storage and U-Haul rental areas are primarily unpaved. So here are some tight photos along Marion Oaks Boulevard. You can kind of see the outdoor storage along the front, the U-Haul rental areas, the sign that we had posted along Marion Oaks Boulevard. You can see here more of the U-Haul rental areas, some of the outdoor parking on unpaved surfaces that they have, some of the outdoor storage areas, the mini storage. This is towards the rear along some alleyways. You can see the rear of the property. They have some vehicle storage along the back. And this garbage container, we had asked them to, we'll go over some of those conditions, but we had asked them to move it into the site because they will have to submit a brand new engineered site plan. These are our recommendations. Ultimately, we recommend that, if this be approved, that they fully pave both their U-Haul rental areas as well as their outdoor storage area. They would be required to provide their required 15-foot Type C buffer. as well as maintain or keep vehicles out of this 35-foot easement, which is intended to provide alternative access to this site to the north and this site to the south. So they will need to submit a brand new engineered site plan, and we had proposed some timeframes on that. Another notable thing that we have recommended is that an eight-foot screen, especially along Marion Oaks Boulevard, and when they do that, that no fabric screening be provided, especially because this is intended to be one of the largest commercial area in Marion Oaks. It's entirely B2, which is generally intended to be for your more retail service uses that will serve the immediate surrounding area. So we wanted to make sure that the screening reflects that character. A policy to note, 3.15, this has a commercial land use. Something staff would note is that the surrounding areas are primarily intended for residential, and as this Commission has seen before, commercial vehicles, you know, your semis, your dump trucks, those aren't allowed to be parked within those residential lots. So in reality, this proposed use would provide some sort of service to those nearby residential areas. And again, we have proposed some timeframes to require them to provide those improvements within one year. So ultimately, our recommendation is approval with conditions. We find that it is consistent with the comprehensive plan. It is compatible with the surrounding uses and will not adversely affect the public interest. If this board has any questions, I'm happy to answer. We can also go through the conditions, if so desired.

Anyone have any questions about the conditions? Okay, so if we can hear from the applicant.

Does the owner agree to all these conditions?

We have been in constant communication with the applicant, and the applicant would be better suited to answer that question.

I mean, this is quite an extensive list of conditions.

So we've made precautions to talk with the applicant, and so the applicant, if they have any issues, we can continue discussing.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. May I begin? Yes, name and address. Thank you very much. My name is Byron Flagg. I'm a land use and environmental attorney with the law firm Gray Robinson. I practice land use and environmental law around the state, but I work out of our Gainesville office. And I have the pleasure of representing Mr. George Diaz, who's sitting here on the front row. I am technically not the applicant for this special use permit. I am the agent attorney representing the applicant, Mr. Diaz. He is the owner of Marion Oak Storage Facility, Inc. And so that's the abbreviation of his company is MOSF, Inc. But that's what that stands for. We are in agreement with the staff recommendation, and we're very pleased to have been working with staff to get to this point, to have a favorable recommendation that our request be approved. Just to give you a quick explanation of why we're here, and I think it's important to point out to you all that Mr. Diaz has been operating this business at this location for over 20 years. It's a very important part of the Marion Oaks community, probably driven by it. And his business has been successful, and it has been expanding. I'm hearing about growth tonight. And part of his success is because the community has grown and has needed a place to park vehicles, such as work trucks. And he has also started to... utilize an agreement with a U-Haul rental company. And he's been doing that for 20 years. So he's been renting U-Hauls from the same site. What happened was his business expanded and he started having outdoor parking of vehicles on his property. And code enforcement very recently happened to be going by and saw something with his property that triggered a closer look by code enforcement. It happened to be with some outdoor trash where it was stored. That triggered a closer look at, well, what is this? use of this property, what's the zoning, and that's when your county staff realize, wow, even though Mr. Diaz has been operating this company here for so long, he's technically not in compliance when he's got the outdoor storage of vehicles. And so, you know, the remedy here for Mr. Diaz is just to stop and comply with your code. very small provision of your code that says outdoor storage vehicles must occur on paved parking areas. That's the technical violation here. And so Mr. Diaz could easily just decide to stop that part of his business and come into compliance, and that would be the end of it. But he's committed to the community. He's got a lot of clients and customers that really need to be able to park their vehicles on his property. And so he wants to go ahead and go forward and apply for this special use permit so that he can be fully compliant and legal with your land use code. So that's why we're here asking for this, and we appreciate it very much. And we're in agreement with the conditions. They are numerous, but I think your staff is doing a good job safeguarding, thinking forward about the growth. So you know that the adjacent properties on either side, Mr. Diaz's property, they're both undeveloped. So there's not any neighbors right now to be concerned about. He has not received any code enforcement complaints by any neighbors. He's paid his taxes on time all these years. So he's a very good property owner, good business owner. But one thing we would ask, if it's okay, is I think we were supposed to bring back to the county a site plan within 30 days. Mr. Diaz is working really hard on hiring an engineer to help him. We would ask if that could be extended to 45 days.

Well, you can actually still work with staff regardless of what happens here before the county commission is here and to try to get things worked out anyway.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much.

We'll have you back up. We'll see what kind of opposition we have. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay, we're going to go ahead and open up the public portion of the hearing here on this. And is there anyone here that would like to speak that's in favor? Would anyone in favor?

Henry Munoz, 495 Marion Oaks Boulevard. I think it is something needed. We've been needing it because I travel throughout the area constantly, and I see a lot of tractor-trailers parked here and there. I usually don't say anything unless it's creating a problem. I've been hoping that we would get something for these residents who decided to move here and have this job to be able to have a place to park their tractors. And I think this would be very beneficial for Marion Oaks and possibly, hopefully, a further expansion of it in other areas in Marion Oaks.

Thank you. Would anyone else like to come up that's in favor? Would anyone like to come up that's in opposition? We'll bring it back to this board. I have one question.

Is this when the vehicles are parked, is this you guys charge the rent? I would like to hear from attorney or the owner.

I want to know. There's a fee for parking. A fee for the parking. Part of the business, yes. Thank you.

That's all. You didn't say you were a good summertime, but I want to know you do charge. Thank you.

I could have answered that question.

I want to hear from him.

Absolutely. Okay, we'll close the public portion of the hearing. We'll bring it back to this board.

Is this a U-Haul dealer? Is this basically a U-Haul dealer that we're talking about that are parking their trucks? It's just one element of it.

Mr. Chair, he has space that he rents to both private vehicle owners, but he also has a contract with the U-Haul company. So it's like a franchise, and he operates that on the property as well.

Anyone else up here have any other additional questions?

No. Please do. Anybody else want to move a motion?

No, Danny, we would like you to do it.

OK. Hi, Danny Gaikwad. I move a motion to approve as staff has recommended with all the special condition. And they will work it out during the time of site plan. making, and I don't mind even 60 days, because it's very difficult to get engineer and get it done in 30 days. I'm a developer, and I know it. So I moved. It's not going to adversely affect the surrounding area. It's compatible. I might be our second in the motion for approval.

I have a motion. I have a second. All in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion moves.

You know, what I try to do is give 60 days. It's impossible to do 30 days. But it depends which stage they are with the staff. So staff can figure it out.

Thank you. So we are on 2.3 now, if I'm correct. Last one. Yep. I'd like to do is take a five-minute break here, and then we'll reconvene at 6.58 and 30 seconds. 30 seconds.

You've never seen us do that.

This is not on. Can please make their way back to the room.

Thank you. Reconvene.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

We are going to reconvene.

Thank you, Michael.

Hi, Michael.

Hi, really. Let me hear. Open mic.

Enter we need it.

Give everyone a chance to come in.

Who's the editor?

Go ahead and call it back to order.

Back to order.

We're back to order. Dana?

Yes, thank you.

If everyone could please quiet down at this point.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Now we will start item 2.3, which is the public hearing to consider an ordinance to impose a temporary moratorium on acceptance, review, or approval of applications for development permits, development orders, rezoning, or site plans related to data centers, data processing facilities, data mining, or cryptocurrency mining operations for a period up to 365 days unless extended or terminated. The ordinance that you have in front of you would impose a temporary moratorium on the processing of any applications with regards to data centers. The moratorium is for 365 days, 12 months, And during that time period, staff would be tasked with looking at various different elements and how data centers would impact specifically our groundwater withdrawal impacts, water supply and wastewater treatment capacities, electrical grid capacity and infrastructure requirements, land use compatibility, environmental considerations, and best practices with regards to data centers, as well as water conservation standards, potential impacts on our Florida Springs and priority focus areas, as well as hydrogeologic studies, water use analysis, and coordination with water management districts. The ordinance would also expire upon either the 12 months from when the Board of County Commissioners ultimately enters the moratorium or the adoption of any amendments to the Marion County Comprehensive Plan or land development regulations, whichever occurs first. So at the longest 12 months, but possibly earlier if there are any changes made to the Comprehensive Plan or land development regulations. That is the ordinance in a nutshell. If you have no questions for me, we can open it up to public comment. I do want to remind members of the public that you will have two minutes to speak and you should keep your comments on the moratorium. This is not about the specific regulations or whether or not there should be a permanent ban on data centers. This is just about the moratorium and the approval of the temporary moratorium or not an approval of a temporary moratorium. So please keep your comments focused on the moratorium itself and the study items that are listed in the ordinance.

Does any member of staff have any questions? I want to remind everyone here, we are here, just like she said, we're here just for this. We really want to try to finish this tonight by repeating each other really doesn't do any good. We really do comprehend. We do understand. We do listen. We don't need to keep saying it over and over again. We are here to evaluate the moratorium and to try. What was that, Danny? Only moratorium. Only moratorium. That is it. And we want to hear what people have to say. But if you're going to come up and want to say the same stuff, there's nothing wrong if you want to come up and just say, I agree with the last person. I would like very much to ask a question that we don't do this much, but please don't comment. Could I see hands of how many people that are in favor of the moratorium? And our board is absolutely here to see that. Thank you very much. I'm going to go ahead, and we have two podiums. So we're going to line up on each side. If you haven't already given your name, that it hasn't been, you haven't written down your name and address already, because some have, when you come on up, please go ahead and do so, and add your name to it if you are coming up. Again, please be respectful. We'll be respectful of you, okay? So we have two sides. So if you want to line up, if you do plan on coming up, and we would be appreciative, again, if you don't keep repeating each other. Multiple. I think they got that. And you don't have to comment naturally. Is that better? Is that better?

Only if you have a comment, then come. If you don't, then just support. We have seen everyone's hands.

Yes. OK, we're going to go ahead and start with you. Name and address.

Henry Munoz, 495 Marion Oaks Boulevard, Ocala, Florida, 34473. I'm not opposing. I'm not for the moratorium, put it that way. I think we should work through it. I know we have a lot of things we need to find, we need to work through. I think we should work with it. The moratorium is not going to help us to develop or not develop the answers that we need. We should go right ahead and do it and not have this moratorium and just get to the work of it happening. We've already known that it's coming. I don't know why we're waiting for the last minute to say we want to oppose it. We should have been taking care of this already. That's my point of view.

Thank you.

I'm in favor of a moratorium. Oh, sorry. My name is Tyler Walker. I live at 18870 Southeast 18th Place in Silver Springs, Florida, 34488. If there is not a permanent ban, then I am in favor of a moratorium. I think our water is very precious, and this technology uses a lot of water. And so I'm in favor of the moratorium. Thank you guys for your time. No, thank you very much.

Renee Andrews, 12001 Northwest Highway 320, Micanopy, but I am Marion County. I am a fifth-generation Marion County resident, and my husband and I own a small cattle operation, and I support the proposal to pass an ordinance to impose a moratorium on data centers. They use a whole lot of water. We get 92% of our water for the Floridan Aquifer, and we're having a drought. We'll probably have another drought before it's over. And so we need to be mindful of how we use water. I think the one year will give Marion County the chance to come up with regulations for the data center so that maybe they recycle their water and don't use potable water from the groundwater. and that they don't strain the existing grid without paying for upgrades to the electricity grid, and that we deal with the noise problem. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Destiny Decker, 575 Southeast 62nd Avenue, Ocala, Florida, 34472. I am born and raised here. I'm a 22-year-old college student. Right now, there are more than 210,000 people in Marion County that are affected by drought. And this has been one of our driest years on record. That is nearly 64% of our residents. I've gotten this number directly from the drought.gov page. And now we are considering building a data center that can require enormous amounts of electricity and water. Once these resources are depleted, my generation cannot simply vote to get them back. Please support the moratorium. Study these impacts carefully and put Marion County residents first. AI does not need Marion County more than Marion County needs its water. Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Jack Pritchard and I'm against the moratorium. With technology the way it's changed over the years from the railroads and everything else, airplanes, jets and missiles and rockets and everything, technology is moving so fast it would be devastating to lose this time. It's very precious. We should go ahead and do this. The water conservation is one of the easiest fixes that can be done. Closed-loop systems work, and they're using them all over the country, all over the world, closed-loop systems. You don't waste the water. It's not a drought issue. The sound system, I did this for a living on mechanical contracting. I understand the cooling systems of all kinds. I put in data centers 50 years ago. There was less size in this room. But they were all air conditioned at that time. These massive units now need cooling. There's no doubt about it. There's not the dangers there that all this fear is portrayed as so dangerous. It's not dangerous at all. We should be thinking more about what China's doing to us and where that leads to than rather worry about the fear of our nation. We should not do this moratorium. It's a dangerous thing. We should move forward, get this job done. It can be done safely. Environmentally, control is a must. And we should push hard for that. That should be our fight, fighting for the right types of cooling and all the other systems that are required. That is our fight. And that's what you guys should be doing, in my opinion, is fighting for this air and getting the job done. Like I say, moratoriums can be very dangerous, but technology moving at the speed of light. Thank you.

Thank you.

My name is Jack Pritchard, 9875 SE 176th Street in Summerfield, Florida.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Name and address?

Sherry Wilson, 7341 West Anthony Road, Ocala. First, thank you for hearing our concerns. We really appreciate it. Our beautiful springs and parks, abundant wildlife, peaceful lakes, good fishing and hunting, open land with horse farms dotted with majestic oaks, and our Ocala National Forest, which is the second largest nationally protected forest in the state of Florida. These are just a few of the priceless gems that Marion County residents hold dear. Most of us don't want to lose it, and quite frankly, we resent the heck out of anyone who will come in and try to destroy it. We have a lot of concerns that go beyond our aquifer and the power grid. There are many uncertainties regarding wildlife and livestock, but there's also a lot of apprehension about the effect to human health for anyone who may be forced to live within a few miles of wherever these things get built, because let's face it, they're not going to be able to sell their properties once they're built. I'm going to ask, are you actually willing to accept these being forced on our county with no studies as to the long-term health effects? I have brought three studies that I'll bring up to you. And I hope you'll take a look at them. One is by Suzanne Burdick. She's a PhD from Children's Health Defense. She mentions dizziness, nausea, vertigo, insomnia, headaches, and anxiety from those living near the data centers, the AI data centers. The second study I brought is from EPA Watch, which mentions the effect of low frequency below 20 hertz that the human ear cannot hear. The third is from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, which states that noise above 65 decibels are enough to cause an increase in stress and blood pressure with the elderly, children, and people with chronic illness most likely to be impacted. At this point, I would think that more would be looking for proof beyond hearsay that there will be no ill effects before considering building AI data centers here in Marion County. And right now, there's just not that proof. In closing, I would like to say that I hope you don't choose the almighty dollar over the negative impacts this could have on what we all value in Marion County, including our health. We started with prayer, and I will close with one, two, three, six, ten. For the love of money is the root of all evil. Who could I pass these to, the three studies? I'll give it to her. Thank you.

Go ahead. Your name and address for the record, please.

Good evening. Giovanna Gallatini, 23520 Northeast, Highway 314, South Springs. For the record, fewer than 5% of data centers currently in the United States use the closed loop system. One data center uses more water than the 35,000 houses that we were talking about earlier. And while the wastewater generated by these houses can be captured and reused, the water used by the data center cannot be used because using an evaporative system, the water is dispersed in the atmosphere, is not recaptured for further use. This is just for the record. And I strongly support the moratorium. We need at least one year to evaluate all the impacts. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm Chad Kahnke. I'm at 25 Northwest 127th Court, Ocala, Florida. I'm for the moratorium. I work in the industry. We do build them with what I do. My concern is we need to make sure that the right chips are being used that don't need the amount of cooling that some of these people are talking about the water uses. Yes, water is an issue. I understand that. And I live here. If we use the right cooling systems.

Can we get the light on, please?

We use the right cooling systems and the right chips in these data centers. They're not as harmful as some think. I don't want them in my neighborhood, but they are coming. Unfortunately, it's part of reality. But the moratorium, I believe, is a good thing. We need to understand the systems and what we are putting in, what we're agreeing to. That's my concern.

Thank you very much. Damon Adgers for the record.

Yes, thanks. Sue Reske, 11507 Southwest 72nd Circle, Ocala. I applaud the county staff for recommending this moratorium, and I thank you all also for being here so late and for getting ahead of this issue. Data centers pose, as I'm sure you've read, a lot of concerns for counties, specifically Marion. In one respect, I'd like you to consider that low frequency noise from heavy generators, less than 20 hertz, passes through animal tissues and skulls, and with the capacity to cause cellular level irritation or disorientation, even when they're outside audible normal hearing range of these noises. So that alone doesn't seem compatible with the horse capital of the world. And I would also agree with many of the others who are talking about the water usage. Depending on their size and type, data centers can use from 300,000 to 5 million gallons of water per day. You understand how much that is. It's equivalent of water usage of 1,000 households up to as much as a town of 50,000 people per day. So I won't belabor that point because you've heard it. So I really appreciate your voting yes on a moratorium in advance so staff can protect everybody involved. Thank you. Name and address?

Ken Davis, 731 Northeast 95th Street, Ocala, 34470. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to address this committee. Loudoun, Virginia is considered to be the data center capital of the world. They have five data centers there. The citizens that have made their comments are that they wish that there had been a much longer moratorium before any of those centers were built. These centers, as it stands right now, are not compatible with anything in the state of Florida. And that's my opinion, which is basically followed up by a lot of other people who have thought the same thing. We have a lime rock substrate that our land sits on. These data centers create a tremendous amount of vibrations. The thing that I would like to make sure is that the county has done a complete survey according to their land use plans and have all the infrastructure and all the amenities in place to ensure these are going to be built, if so, 37 counties in the state of Florida have already established moratoriums that are not going to allow land use of a data center to be built. I'd like to think that Marion County is going to add to that. However, this delay, this moratorium, is going to give the county an opportunity to inspect all of those things that need to be considered before we the people of Marion County are subjugated to the degradation and damage that could be caused by these data centers. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Brian Donley, 7337 West Anthony Road, Ocala, Florida. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, I stand in support of the moratorium. I've spent a considerable amount of time lately studying and listening to all people. Some are for it, some are against it. I'd say it's about a 90-10 against a data center coming here right now as technology currently exists. I'm not an expert on data centers in any way, shape or form, but I can tell you that if you go down to Silver Springs right now, it's inescapable what's going on with our water supply here. We're 60, 65% lower than we have historically been in this county. And that's, I think, should be a real wake-up call to everybody in this room and especially on this board. We're a beautiful rural county and I just think that with technology moving so quickly that what we're discussing and thinking about today, next year is going to be a completely different discussion. And I think that we have a treasure here called Marion County and wisdom is the only thing that is going to protect this county. And so I ask all of you tonight to please support a moratorium so that we can really study this whole thing. And before we say yes, we will know the facts and the technology is right for who we are and what we have here. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Hi there. Name and address, please.

Hi, Pamela Ayers. I vote at 3941 Northeast 22nd Avenue, Ocala, Florida. Is that sufficient? OK, Mr. Chair and board members. All I wanted to add, everybody kind of said what I'd like to have said. But I'd like to add to that, and I have a concern over the water use, of course, the electricity demand, the pollution, and the environmental impacts that it's going to have. And I would also ask you one last question before. I had a lot more to say, but I'm not going to. Where can I arrange a meeting with either you fellows, excuse me, board members, or the county who's handling meetings? Because I would really like to see some of the... paperwork that's already passed back and forth through officials and such, because I think that's where we're going to have a lot more information, too. And we may be getting more educated in that, which is helpful.

I think you're about to get a card.

Oh, okay. Right there.

Right behind you. All right. I thank you for your time.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.

Hello, my name is Michael Ventry. I'm 32 Walnut Road, Ocala, Florida. I'm 23 years old, born and raised in Ocala, Florida, and I am strongly in support of the moratorium. There is absolutely no reason not to take the time to properly study its effects that it's going to have on the community and the environment around. You can obviously see there's massive support just in this room alone when you asked people to raise their hands for the moratorium. You must stand with the people. You must stand with your constituents and support the moratorium.

Thank you very much.

Good evening. My name is PG Schaefer, 2015 Southwest 43rd Place in Ocala. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the Commission. I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this evening, and I want to thank each and every one of you for your service to the county by serving as a volunteer on this commission. And I am here to tell you that I do have an opinion. And my opinion, well, first let me say, I support the moratorium. One year is a reasonable amount of time to look into this. I fall somewhere in the middle between Mr. Jack Pritchard, who is, no moratorium, let's get after this. We don't want to give China a leg up. We have a beautiful county and natural resources that we support. certainly want to protect. So I think a one-year moratorium, and we're told that it's a maximum of one year. It could be sooner. So if we're worried about China and getting a leg up, we could get after it sooner. But I think even if we didn't have it, it would take that long to get all the particulars together to start looking into it anyway. So it's reasonable. It's just prudent and reasonable to have a one-year moratorium pause to look into it and make sure we're doing it the right way. We don't want to give China a leg up, but we also want to protect our beautiful county, the county that you serve so diligently, and we thank you so much. So thank you for the opportunity to speak to you this evening.

Thank you.

My name's Max Shepard. I live at 3415 Northwest 63rd Street in Ocala, Florida, 34475. I'm here to address one issue specifically, and I wasn't sure if it was going to get brought up or not. Frankly, it took me about 20 seconds of Googling to conclude that China is not an issue at all. China has about 400 data centers in the entire country. The United States of America has over 5,000. I don't think that there's really a race going on here, the way that it's being discussed, the way that it's being pitched. This race that we're talking about to be the best at AI is a Trojan horse. It's being pitched as a competition to be the best in something that, quite frankly, doesn't matter to China specifically. China does not dedicate nearly the same resources that we do to AI infrastructure. They're building public transportation. They just connected the entire country with transit systems. This is something of such minimal focus, something that should possess such minimal focus, not just to Marion County, but to the United States. I use the phrasing of Trojan horse specifically because the people who are funding AI data centers are the ones who are going to tell you that it's unstoppable and that it's just going to happen. These are the same people who are going to become ludicrously wealthy because they keep getting constructed. They have the ability to stop it. They're telling you it can't be. People want money, and that's why these things keep getting built. The people of Marion County, as you might have noticed, are extremely opposed to the further construction of these concrete boxes in our beautiful county. I want to start a family here, and I hope by Showing your support of this moratorium, you'd allow me to do that in a peaceful and beautiful county. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Please don't do that.

My name is Ken Maria, 9590 Southwest 93rd Loop, Ocala, Florida.

My main concern, like most people, is the water situation here, okay? We're almost to the end now. We're drilling further than we ever had to drill before to get through the aquifers. And as I found out, you already have new places coming where you're going to build another couple thousand homes down the Villages area. Where's all that water going to come from?

We're here on the data center, though.

Excuse me?

We're here on the data center.

I know that. And so that's just going to be another added problem. You build that data center. You know, where's all this water coming from? We don't get enough rain. So, you know, that's my situation. Where is all the water going to come from and how long do we put up with this? Thank you. Thank you.

Fran Siegfried, 18337 Southwest 102 Street Road, Dunnellon, Florida. I really don't like speaking in public, so I'll try to make it quick. Thank you all for being here and hearing our concerns. I am in support of the moratorium. I'd like to address the gentleman who said the closed loop system doesn't use that much water. My daughter is in law school up in Vermont at an environmental law school and just did semester on data centers, and she sent this to me. A closed loop system requires more energy consumption to cool down the water inside the loop. The production of this energy also uses a great deal of water. 75% to 80% of data center water use comes from the water used in energy generation. This means that the closed loop system may ultimately use more water than an evaporative cooling system. And if you'd like the sources for that, I have them on my phone. So thank you for hearing our concerns.

Thank you very much. Yes, ma'am. Name and address?

Oh. Hello. Thank you for giving us a chance to comment on this. I'm for the ordinance, the moratorium, and I'm giving you a handout. There's a map there that I wanted to speak about. My name is Judy Etzler, 5251 Northwest 219th Street Road. I'm in an unincorporated Marion County, 32667. I live within about a mile of Orange Lake, which is going dry right now. I bought my home in 1992. In 2009, my 60-foot well went dry, and I had to install a 120-foot well, cost of $3,500. I don't want to have to drill another well. We are now at a phase three extreme water shortage, which that map, if you turn past the first page, that map will show you. We are a phase three extreme water shortage. And I am concerned that our Florida aquifer will drop below what my well can pump if we go to phase four. We've been in water shortage, I know, since January and before that. And I am really concerned. One of my real concerns is the aquifer. I pump directly from it, and I can't afford another well. What... In Phase 3 extreme water shortage, some of what I showed you is from St. Johns River Water Management District, and these are the restrictions on all of us since we are in water shortage. And the map shows that Phase 3 extreme water shortage is for Alachua and Marion, and I am included in that. So if you would, be very, very careful. And I like that comment about karst water. When the aquifer drops too far, then there is no longer the pressure enough to keep the land over it. And that's where we get sinkholes from. And most of the lakes around Florida are from sinkholes. And vibration would, yes, would cause more sinkholes. So if you would, please take extreme caution in how you allow that to come through. Thank you for your question.

for letting us speak thank you name and address please hi my name is melody menger i live at 194 91 southwest 100th loop in dunellan right near the beautiful but low rainbow river i'm in support of the moratorium first of all i'd like the county to consider not giving any kind of tax incentives or tax abatements, no matter what data center developers promise you as far as jobs and wonderful things that are going to come from the data centers. They do not deserve tax incentives or tax abatements. That will impact the rest of us in reduced services. Data centers must bear the cost of the infrastructure that's built to serve them, whether it's increased roads or increased transmission lines. They need to bear the cost of the increased infrastructure needs. End of life is anytime you have equipment, any kind of equipment, even a roof, there is an end of life. What happens to the equipment at the end of life? A plan needs to have been put in place up front and funded either by bonds or whatever means of putting money in a hold somewhere to take care of the cost of the decommissioning and recycling of the waste, not to just throw it in the landfill and have it perpetuate another problem. The costs should be paid up front, and the cost of obsolescence should be considered up front so that the county doesn't get left holding the bag, as there's always a possibility that data centers could go out of business. There could be too much competition from China or something like that. They could go out of business. They could go belly up. The county would get stuck with the cost of dealing with the belly up data center. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, Didi Ray, 8275 North Lawn Springs, Citrus Springs, Florida. Commissioners, my name is Didi Ray. I'm from Citrus Springs. Tonight I support the temporary moratorium. I want to point out that Marion County is not the first county to recognize the need to pause and take a closer look at this type of development. Citrus County has also taken action with the moratorium. Well, it evaluates how these facilities should be regulated. This is not about being against technology, business, or economic development. It's about making sure you have the right rules and ordinances to protect and safeguard your residents. This needs to take place before long-term projects move forward. We all need to evaluate water usage, electricity demand, noise, traffic, and potential effects on the surrounding property owners and neighborhoods. A moratorium is giving Citrus County the time needed, as well as allowing more community input. Let's study it first and get it right. Marion County is rapidly growing, as is Citrus County, and responsible growth is needed. Once a major facility is approved and built, it can be extremely difficult to address problems afterwards. Citrus County has recognized the importance and need to take a pause to study these issues. Marion County should have the same opportunity with, again, community input to protect its residents. I respectfully ask this commission to support a temporary moratorium, give the time needed to develop responsible regulations, and protect our most valuable life-sustaining resource, our water. Thank you for listening.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Sandra Fernandez, and I live at 3270 Northeast 42nd Place in unincorporated Marion. And I agree with what Judy Etzler said about the karst topography. I'm very concerned about the karst and the potential for sinkholes in the future. People travel from around the world to experience the natural resources we have right here in Marion County. I'm at Silver Springs quite often. I was there this morning and I can tell you our springs are in trouble. Silver Springs and Rainbow Springs are treasures. They are connected to the groundwater beneath us and before approving water intensive industrial development, Marion County should understand whether additional groundwater demand could affect spring flows or water quality. I suggest the county may want to start by consulting with Dr. Robert Knight and the scientists at the Florida Springs Institute who are preeminent experts on the subject. We should establish protective standards before applications arrive. Our springs existed long before data centers. Hopefully they will exist long after today's technology becomes obsolete. Our responsibility to protect our national resources is eternal. I recommend approval of the moratorium. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you so much for this opportunity, Lauren Quinn, 16336 Southeast 62nd Place, Ocklawaha. I'm sorry because I had a lot of technical information. But with your permission, first of all, thank you for this opportunity. I'm totally for the moratorium and actually a ban. But I have from the experts. I don't believe that we don't know. We all don't know about this. So I have extensive information from all the experts from around the world. and all the summits and everything that have taken place. So I'll get that to you all so that makes it easier for you. And usually I'm used to doing slideshows, but I don't have time. But anyway, as Aaron Brockovich states, this is everything on the table that matters. Our water, our power, our land, our agriculture, food, our wildlife, our animals, and our health. And I will add, if you have heard these machines, remember the fingernails on the chalkboard when we were kids, okay? This is metal grating the most Unbelievable, horrific noise. And the temperature increase of up to 16 degrees? No. So if I can play this, I hope I can. This is about one minute. This is from Iowa. And this is a man who builds data centers and protect this man at all costs. Hold on.

Can we hear this, Ms. Denner? Is it allowed?

It's someone who builds data centers and said we don't need a drop of water. He builds them. He's building one right now in Milwaukee.

I think we understand the water situation at this point, though. And the moratorium covers it.

OK, great. All right. So I'll be getting some information to you all to hopefully make it easier from the experts. And everyone that spoke here tonight was great. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

My name is Richard DelGaudio at address 5674 Northwest 27th Place, Ocala, Florida 34482. My wife has resided and moved to Florida a little over three, almost four years ago. We own a place at Ocala Palms. We really like it here. We think this is a great place to live. Thank you for the part you do in preserving our freedom. I noticed that Jack Pritchard was pretty much by himself in expressing his point of view. I have never expressed a point of view on this subject except that I'm curious about the topic. I do issues for a living. I write things for conservative cause organizations. This is a topic that has got me more and more interested because, well, number one, How many people have used 911 in the last couple of years? Not I. We've met Johnny Google. Google tells us everything. 911 is the past. In fact, I think younger people may not even know what 911 is. But there's going to come a time, if you vote to shut this thing down, if you do that, I'm warning you now, I hope this never happens, there'll come a time when you dial 911 and there won't be an answer. Now, since most people aren't using 911, what I mean by that is there'll come a time when you go to Johnny Google and say, tell me what's the answer to a question. And everybody relies on this technology these days. They don't use 911. They may not even know what it is. I warn you, I'm fearful for this. There's going to come a time if we have moratorium, and let's not kid ourselves, a moratorium is they want to shut it down. There's not one person in this room that wouldn't want to shut it down. Every argument that was made today was shut it down. That's what you're considering. You're not considering a moratorium. You're considering shut it down. You can say that's the only thing we're going to talk about, but it's just not true, and you know it's not true. They want to shut it down. They want to shut down 911. They want to shut down Google. They want to shut down information and the technology that makes us fly above all the other countries of the world. The time is over, sir. Thank you.

Thank you.

Dane Sundberg, 4481 Northwest 53rd Court, Ocala. Nobody wants these monstrosities in their backyard, so you'll be obligated to take the land in Marion County that possibly was once beautiful horse farms, agricultural farms, or untouched natural forests, and yet you ignore the fact that a number of Florida counties have already enacted data center bans. Gentlemen, I want to thank you for your service, but I want to say just say no to data centers. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Jimmy Gooding, 1531 Southeast 36th Avenue, Ocala, Florida. This is a sledgehammer to fix a problem that can be fixed. Currently, the process for approving these in Marion County is a special use permit, according to county staff. That can be denied by the commission. It can come with conditions that are required, such as self-contained cooling, such as natural gas for power. We've already got a process in place for this. But let me tell you the problem with this moratorium. You all have heard of Senate Bill 180. It contains two provisions in it that restrict the ability of local governments to make

life more difficult for development.

One is a moratorium on construction, reconstruction, or redevelopment of property damaged by a hurricane. We're not talking about that one. They may not propose or adopt more restrictive or burdensome amendments to its comprehensive plan or land development regulations. May be talking about that one. But here's the one we are talking about. may not propose or adopt more restrictive or burdensome procedures governing review approval or issuance of a site plan development approval or development order to the extent such terms are defined in Section 163, 3164, Florida Statutes, on or before October 1, 2027. A rezoning, a special use permit, a building permit, a site plan is exactly the type of development order that Senate Bill 180 precludes Marion County from adopting more restrictive or burdensome procedures. You can't have a more restrictive or burdensome procedure than a prohibition on issuing a building permit. Now, this talks about remedies. It talks about suits against the county. I'm not going to talk about that. I'm going to talk about the obligation to follow this law because this is not a popular law. Some local governments are suing over it. But reading from the Supreme Court, the laws found on the statute books are presumably valid. It is the duty of officers to obey the statutes until, in proper proceeding, they are passed upon by the courts or declared invalid or inoperative. It's not whether we like Senate Bill 180 or not. It's whether we're going to follow it or not. And that should certainly be considered, I believe, by the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Thank you.

My name is Roger Van Doren and I live at 12720 West Highway 328 here in Ocala. I'm all for this monitorium. I don't even think it's long enough to be quite honest with you because anybody can go onto YouTube right now and have a look and see what is going on with these data centers. And there is so much information out there, and there's still not enough information out there because these things are still so new. And they haven't really found out exactly the very, very long-term precautions of this. Now, the other thing is this, and I represent the equestrian community here. What is Ocala known for? It's known for horses. It has international competitions. It has people that come from all over the world. They invest in properties here. They invest in competitions here. You've got the World Equestrian Center who has built up Marion County to a very, very high international level in the world of show jumping and equestrian sports. And it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And there are three areas here in the United States. It's Kentucky, Ocala, and down in West Palm Beach, all for horses. And do you think people knowing that these data centers and knowing the risks and everything that's involved, do you think they're going to start investing more money in farms here? horses here and we're not talking about small horses anymore of you know a hundred thousand dollar horses you know a million dollar horses these people are putting in a lot of money into this and they travel from all over the world and if anyone to enter the big World Cup competitions we have here there are 50 countries represented here from all over the world And I think, honestly, as I said earlier on, it's not long enough, and we cannot destroy our horse community here because this is really what a cattle is all about, and it really has built this city. Thank you so much for all your help, and I really appreciate everything. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Joel Hickman. I live at 15961 Southeast 115th Place Road in Oklahoma, Florida. I'd like to bring special recognition to Commissioner Bryant as she was the one who presented this moratorium. When we presented a petition against the workshop to postpone it until the newly elected commissioners came in so that they could have an impact on things that move forward. So something I would just like to read to you with my ending. As this development pressure was unanticipated, existing ordinances and development standards do not adequately address the unique infrastructure demands, impacts to neighboring property owners, and operational characteristics of newer data centers. Additionally, potential cumulative impacts of data centers on the county's water and wastewater systems, groundwater resources, wastewater infrastructure, and electrical grid are not yet fully understood. They're not yet fully understood. And that's what our petition was, was so that we could fully understand it. So with the people that are in this room with me today, and there are 6,194 petition signatures, we are asking that you hold up to this moratorium. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm going to close the public portion. Is there anyone else that wants to come up before I go ahead? And I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to close the public portion of the hearing. I'm going to bring it back to this board. We're going to start discussing it here. I would appreciate it very much and would ask you not to talk, clap. We're not going to be influenced either which way. And we're going to have our discussion. I'll bring it back to this board.

I have a question for Mr. Barton. How up to speed are staff on the data centers?

How up to speed are staff on the data centers? Chuck Varon, Director of Goal Services. So we are researching it now. We've got a team of us that are looking at different issues from legal to water. It's hard to put a number to that, but we are actively looking into it.

So Chuck, would you agree that we probably do need a little more time before making decisions since we're first looking into it?

You know, I would say yes, you know, to get a clearer picture as we build regulations, but at the same time, building the regulations, they're never going to be perfect, so getting something in place. And so I feel like that's what we're recommending here is to have some time to develop regulations that make sense. Okay.

Thank you. Second, if I would, second part is six months.

Can you open the microphone a little louder? Go too close to the microphone.

Six months, reasonable amount of time, or a year? What is your opinion?

I think just the process of going through and making changes to the land development code or the comprehensive plan, that alone would take probably at least six months just to develop all that. So I would say at least six months, and then you add in, hey, we need to do some research, talk to some other professionals, and really what makes sense for Marion County. Get the outside information and see how does that apply to Marion County. Thank you.

U.S. has got any questions?

Well, I think that it goes beyond just our county commissioner's change. We're also looking at a change in the governor as well. And I know that that has become a hot topic for the governor's race. And so giving time for that change to take place and then for the research, I've heard One candidate said it is a very high priority on his list to focus on getting this thing managed properly and placed in the right place. And this one that I heard, he said he's not talking about in Marion County, but other places in the state where it will not affect our water here. But I think it is something that is needed for the change, not only in the county commissioners, but also in the governor's houses.

I know we have to get this right, so I can't make a motion, but I'm definitely... No, but hold on.

I have a comment. I have a simple comment. No data center will be... It's just idiotic, because everybody thinks one way. But I think, I personally think, the data centers are welcome only where we understand how much resources they're going to use, how much water they're going to use. Because you lump any and all data center into one, it's the most nonsense thing one can do. We need to learn whether it's a one gigawatt you want, or you want small, you want medium, you want large. which location they are putting in, what are other resources available, what is visible to the public also. We have great equine industry, so we want to make sure we protect them too. But having just a debate like no data center will be just the worst thing to do. I like this. You guys are doing research and all that. But most important, we need to learn how they're going to get the electricity, who's going to pay for the grid. Because I build my projects, and you have to pay for it, whatever that impact fee and all that. So my question to staff is that, do we have every application yet where we are worried about it, that how big application so far we have or we are anticipating. That's the main question I have in my mind. Good question.

We do not have a current application.

So I'm glad we don't have. So don't you not think, I'm just asking you because you guys run the country, that we need to look into the application, the size of the data center. Resources they use. If the electricity they use a lot, then I need to know how much infrastructure they need to build it. Because whenever I build anything in this town or in county, you guys do ask me those questions. I pay for the electricity. I pay for the sewer water. I pay for the upgrade. I mean, people just think that we put the tax on them. It's not true. Actually, county and county staff is very diligent They even do a small development like 400 homes. They make sure the fire services are there, schools are adequately done, and all that. So I think there is a lot of misinformation, and that will be a worse thing to have to the citizens of Marion County. I truly believe we need to look into it, but I don't know how much time. But absolutely, I'm in favor of any business because we need to see and see the impact. Without that, I'm opposed to that, that no data center. But yes, moratorium. I would like to see, but I don't know about timing. But I heard what he asked. So I'm OK with that.

So it would go to the County Commission for the second public hearing on September 15th and then the board has a data center workshop scheduled for September 21st where staff will bring some of the information that we've been able to obtain and bring that back to the board for some consensus and direction on next steps, which could include bringing information to the Land Development Regulation Commission, which is the entity that reviews the land development code and would make recommendations on what that code would look like. So to, you know, to review some of those things that look at, I mean, I imagine through that time we will look at what does a permanent van look like. We will look at sizing of data centers, if there is any place for it. It will be the entire gamut of different options that you have. It is not narrowly focused on you know, just regulations. It's looking at what are all of your options and then what the Land Development Regulation Commission would do is make a recommendation and then we would bring it to the Board of County Commissioners to ultimately approve whatever those regulations are up to including a permanent ban.

Can we make a recommendation that that workshop be put off until the new commissioners take office?

No. No. Your recommendation tonight is limited to a recommendation to approve the ordinance as presented to adopt a temporary moratorium on the data center applications.

Okay. So we go ahead and make a motion tonight and it sends it to the Board of Commissioners.

Right. It would go as a recommendation to the Board, just like any of your other items that you've heard tonight.

And I truly believe that we don't have any application. We're just doing a precautionary measure, which I like it. We need to be proactive, you know. And I command the county that you guys are thinking. That's why I ask this question. You have no application. You have nothing. But you're thinking ahead of it. And if it comes, as Ms. Dana said, we look into the size. We look into that. Having just no data center and feel good and go home. That's not what we are here for. That's my firm opinion.

So if we have no other questions?

I just have one. Because I understand it, and I know we don't have any applications currently, so I'm going to anticipate that staff is going to start looking into this. But then we get this thing from an attorney saying that we can't enforce a moratorium anyway.

That's not what I heard. I heard that this is a bill that hasn't been adopted yet.

So Senate Bill 180 has been adopted. Has been adopted. And under Senate Bill 80, Mr. Gooding is correct. Senate Bill 180 does say that the board cannot adopt or that the county cannot adopt more burdensome or restrictive regulations. But there was a subsequent Senate Bill 484 that gave authority to the local government to adopt comprehensive plans and land development regulations that address data centers. So you have a difference in two Senate bills, and I'm sure the subject of potential litigation on whether or not Senate Bill 44 telling you thou shall have the authority to regulate these things is somehow allowed in light of Senate Bill 180. But I do believe that, I mean, there is always a potential for any type of lawsuit or litigation when you have a moratorium. in light of Senate Bill 180, the board may face litigation on that as well.

So you think we're on legal standing to go ahead and make a motion?

I think we have some good defenses.

Yep.

If you want, do you want me to move a motion?

I would like to move a motion. I go with the ordinance maximum 12 months or whatever is time. And that's appropriate. And then meanwhile... So the motion is to approve the moratorium. Motion is to approve the moratorium.

Do we need to read this verbatim?

No.

No?

I'm looking for a second.

Okay, second. Aye. Anyone? Second.

All in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? motion passes I want to tell everyone here I really appreciate where you handled yourselves I totally know how emotional this has been for everyone here so thank you very much for that remember to attend the county commissioners all right so we have some minutes in front of us I want somebody to make a motion.

Approve the minutes, Danny. Approve the minutes.

I'm in the bus.

Huh? Meeting is on.

Yes, I'm looking for a motion. We're still on.

We're still in the meeting. We're still in the meeting, sir.

I'm looking to give a welcome. Michael Bayer. You're making a motion to approve the minutes?

I made a motion to approve the minutes. All in favor?

Aye. Motion to adjourn? Aye.