You don’t need a degree in demography to know that Ocala/Marion County is growing by leaps and bounds. All you need is a driver’s license.
Yeah, the roads — from the four-lanes to the side streets — are crowded and getting more so every day. Each traffic backup is a sign of the booming times we’re living in. We need more roads, more schools and more fire stations, for starters. And, when (if?) we do get all these new infrastructure additions, we will need people to staff them and run them. That means, well, more growth.
Here’s the thing. It isn’t as if no one knew this growth was coming. Oh, I’m pretty sure no one expected Ocala/Marion County to be among the fastest growing places in America. Or that the World Equestrian Center and our ever-growing logistics sector would take off like lightning. Or that, despite soaring housing and insurance costs, our community would remain one of the most affordable places to live in Florida. But our leaders — and most of the longtime residents — knew we were destined for big things, that is, big growth.
Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, Florida has been “welcoming” thousands of new residents a month. Heck, more than 1,000 people move into Ocala/Marion County every month alone. But the thing to remember, the homesites and housing developments they are moving into, for the most part, were approved years, even decades ago. So, the more than 18,000 new home building permits issued in 2021-23 were already approved and expected at some point — and written into our city and county land use plans.
So, we planned places to build houses well ahead, presumably so we could develop our community in a thoughtful and manageable way. That includes providing the infrastructure to accommodate the new residents living in them.
Consider the State Road 200 corridor west of Interstate 75. The city recently approved plans to build 2,100 homes on the majestic former Winding Oaks Farm located west of Heathbrook. Meanwhile, just off SR 200 along Southwest 42nd Street, the also majestic Red Oak and Ocala Stud farms are approved for another couple thousand homes. More than 4,000 homes within a few miles of space along a road, 200, that, to put it generously, is already congested.
Oh, and On Top of the World, a little farther out 200? It already has 13,000 residents but almost that many more acres it can still develop into more houses, providing the market demands it and the developer has the will to do it.
Growth is grand, if you’re making money off it. But when services cannot keep up with the people they are supposed to serve, it’s not good. At some point, our community will have to invest in the already-needed infrastructure, and that will mean higher taxes and higher prices for housing.
You’ve heard the phrase “big city prices.” It costs more to live in Miami or Tampa or Orlando because they require more services to serve more people. Ocala/Marion County is becoming a big city, and somebody is going to have to pay for it.
Sigh. Growth is good … except when it isn’t.
