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Horse Farms Forever
Group striving to preserve Marion County’s horse farms and its global brand
BY BRAD ROGERS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY RALPH DEMILIO
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If you’ve lived in Marion County for any time at all, you’ve probably had this conversation with someone:
“Where are you from?”
“Ocala.”
“Oh, horse country.”
“Exactly.”
That dialogue appears in a brochure for Horse Farms Forever, an organization committed to protecting and preserving Ocala/ Marion County’s horse farms and its global brand as the Horse Capital of the World.TM It sums up what too many take for granted: That Ocala/Marion County, with an estimated 100,000 horses and some 1,500 horse farms, will always have the beautiful, open spaces that make it the horse capital.
The truth is, however, that the unyielding pressure of Florida’s rapid growth has already threatened it, and more threats are likely ahead without strong advocacy and increased awareness.
That’s where Horse Farms Forever comes in. HFF’s four-pronged goal is to promote, protect, preserve and plan for the future of horse farms in Ocala/Marion County, especially in the county’s 193,000acre Farmland Preservation Area.
“There are lots of places that have horse farms,” said Michelle Grald, HFF’s director of communications. “But here, we have an economic engine driven by horse power. It’s an industry, and that industry depends on open spaces.”
HFF was founded in 2018 in response to a Florida Department of Transportation proposal to build a four-lane toll road, known as the Coastal Connector, right through Marion County’s storied horse country. The road would have cut through the county-designated Farmland Preservation Area, home to some of Ocala/Marion County’s most iconic horse farms.
Horse farm owners, the business community and others rallied to oppose the project and, in the process, HFF was created. That was five years ago. Since them, HFF has evolved into a vital public voice for protecting and preserving our horse farms and our unique horse culture – again, with the primary focus on the Farmland Preservation Area.
They learned about land use and zoning. They attended hundreds and hundreds public meetings. They reviewed development plans. They proposed more restrictions for the
Farmland Preservation Area. And they did it with influential members who employed research and facts in making their case.
The result, HFF President Bernie Little said, is the organization has become a meaningful and ever-present voice on issues affecting development in our farmland communities.
“We have earned a seat at the table,” said Little, a former beer distributorship owner who now owns a horse farm and also raises cattle. “We’re a resource to the County Commission, the Growth Services Department and the CEP (Chamber &Economic
Partnership) on all things horse farm related.
“For anyone who wants to build anything that requires a land use or zoning change or special use permit in the Farmland Preservation Area, the thing they’re told is you better call Horse Farms Forever, because we’ve earned the watch dog reputation. And we’re fact-based and respectful in all our interactions.”
Little said the group has impacted a number of significant land use and development proposals.
After the victory in stopping the Coastal Connector, the group’s next challenge came when the Roberts family, the developers of Golden Ocala and the World Equestrian Center, and one of HFF’s founding members, sought to move the Farmland Protection Area boundary and free up 275 acres for development. The Farmland Preservation Area had already lost some 2,500 acres to previous boundary shifts approved by the county.
HFF responded with strong opposition and an intense multi-media campaign that ultimately stopped the plan.
“From that point, we earned a reputation,” Little said. “We sort of earned our spurs.”
There have been other threats to the Farmland Preservation Area, and HFF has responded to each, garnering, if not victories, at least measurable concessions.
When a group sought a special use permit to establish a drag strip and ATV race course in Flemington, the heart of the Farmland Preservation Area, HFF responded vociferously. More than 50 landowners from within the Farmland Preservation Area appeared before the County Commission to oppose the proposal. The opposition worked.
When the Golden Ocala Equestrian Land organization expanded its equine holdings by purchasing the 1,000-acre Ocala Jockey Club on County Road 318 – again, in the heart of the Farmland Preservation Area – they asked HFF to review their plans before submitting an application to the county. As a condition for gaining HFF support of the WEC Jockey Club project, GOEL agreed to “down zone” two scenic Farmland Preservation Area gateway parcels along U.S. 27 from commercial to agriculture.
The result was scaled-down development plans and more than 500 acres being preserved as open spaces on the property that includes a four-star, Olympic-caliber eventing course.
While critics said it was still too much development for an area set aside for farmland preservation, Little and HFF directors counted it as a victory. Yes, it will mean new development, they said, but it will be limited and will be development in keeping with the equine character of the Farmland Preservation Area.
“We think the WEC Jockey Club property will do more than anything HFF could have done alone to protect horse farms in the area,” Little said.
One thing is for sure: HFF is watching every building and development proposal that is submitted to the county, and on a weekly basis. With 190 new residents moving into Ocala/Marion County weekly, it is no small task. Nonetheless, Little and Busy Shires, HFF director of conservation strategies, review every permit application submitted to the county’s Planning and Zoning Department every week.
Bernie Little
“Busy and I read every application to Planning and Zoning,” Little said, “and there are dozens of them.”
Little said that sort of persistence has paid off for HFF with those who make development decisions.
“We’ve earned a respected place at the table because our positions are fact-based and we’re laser-focused on our mission,” he said.
More to the point, the County Commission and local government planning staffs have come to embrace HFF as not just an advocacy group, but a partner. For example, in addition to its case-by-case wins in preserving our horse farms and the community’s character, HFF also convinced the County Commission to amend the county’s comprehensive plan with stricter development regulations for the Farmland Preservation Area that, in Little’s words, “put a lot more teeth in it.”
The result? All special use permits and zoning changes in the Farmland Preservation Area have to “preserve, protect, support and enhance the rural, equestrian and farmland character of the FPA,” he said.
That is the long-term objective of HFF – to promote, protect, preserve and plan so Ocala/Marion County’s equine heritage remains vibrant and lasting. That heritage, after all, is also the community’s global brand.
Moreover, when HFF started, there were only five signs denoting the Farmland Preservation Area. Today there are 50.
“We are an organization that is getting things done in the name of the Farmland Preservation Area,” Grald said.
Next on HFF’s agenda is to work with county staff and stakeholders to revise the county’s existing transfer of development rights program to ensure the permanent conservation of horse farms in the Farmland Preservation Area through conservation easements.
Little said HFF is in it for the long haul and will adhere to its strategy of making its case by being “factual and respectful.”
“Many of the other groups have a short term focus, like playing checkers. We are playing chess,” Little said. “We’re in it for the long game, hoping to make a substantial and lasting impact.”
He believes that impact is already evident by the response HFF has gotten from the County Commission and its staff.
“The elected commissioners are all strong supporters of the Farmland Preservation Area,” he said. “They’re aware of what this area means to the county.”
To join Horse Farms Forever or obtain more information about its advocacy and education efforts, go online to https://www. horsefarmsforever.com.
