County commission, landowners have tools to protect our rural lands

Busy Shires
·4 min read

Marion County is home to nearly 4,000 farms, including over 1,200 horse farms. Most of the horse farms are located in the Farmland Preservation Area, which encompasses nearly 200,000 acres in the northwest portion of the county. The FPA is the foundation of our brand and identity as the Horse Capital of the World.

While the FPA is called a preservation area, it’s not protected in the same way government owned lands like the Ocala National Forest are protected. The Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations are guidelines that define rural character and establish compatible uses in the FPA, but they do not prevent subdivision of land or stop development that is deemed compatible by the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC).

There are three main elements to help preserve farms in Marion County:

  • a designated boundary on the county’s Future Land Use Map for the FPA,

  • Objective 3.3 in the Comprehensive Plan that defines compatible rural uses in the FPA, and

  • a voluntary Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program to incentivize landowners to protect their land with a conservation easement.

The first two elements, the boundaries of the FPA and the policies that govern it, are at the discretion of the BOCC. The third element, the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program, lies in the hands of private landowners. The TDR program is what makes the FPA a true Preservation Area, but it requires private landowners to participate in the program.

What is the TDR Program?

In 2004, the county adopted the TDR program to help protect farmland and other natural resources. Then, in 2005, the Farmland Preservation Area (FPA) was created by the county to serve as the sending area for the TDR program.

The TDR program is one of the county’s Transfer of Rights Programs, (Comprehensive Plan Objective 9.1), which includes Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) and a Transfer of Vested Rights (TVR) program. These two Transfer of Rights programs, which are voluntary, are designed to “send” development rights from rural areas to more urban “receiving” areas through Transferrable Development Credits (TDCs).

TDR sending areas

In 2005, the boundary of the Farmland Preservation Area was designated as the original “sending area” for the TDR program, but after the initial designation, this area was extended beyond the FPA boundaries.

The sending area site must be 30 acres or more of contiguous land and either located within the designated FPA or have attributes listed in Policy 1.1.2 of the Conservation Element of the Marion County Comprehensive Plan, which include locally significant natural resources, such as certain types of soil, water and vegetation.

TDR receiving areas

The "receiving area" is designated on the Future Land Use Map, Transfer of Rights, with the majority of the receiving areas located within the Urban Growth Boundary. The Transferrable Development Credits may be transferred to and used on lands identified on the Transfer of Rights map.

If landowners choose to participate in the TDR program, the BOCC must approve the agreement; then the landowner records a conservation easement on the property and receives the Transferable Development Credits. To help incentivize participation, the county increased the TDCs to one credit per every acre of sending area land preserved in 2007.

Thus, if a private property in the sending area meets the requirements of the TDR program, in exchange for placing a conservation easement on their property, the landowner receives TDCs that can be sold or utilized.

When the TDR program was adopted, the county set a goal of placing conservation easements on 5,000 acres by 2015. As of today, the TDR program protects about 3,200 acres of land.

One of the properties protected by the county’s TDR program is owned by Dick and Sharon Sawallis. In 2007, they voluntarily protected 93 acres of their land, which is part of the scenic viewshed of the Orange Lake Overlook on U.S. 441 just south of McIntosh.

"It's a gorgeous view when the sun comes up, or the sun goes down over that lake. That's what I want to preserve and not look at a bunch of houses," Sharon Sawallis said in the Ocala Star Banner article.

With the exponential growth in Marion County, the development pressure to subdivide farms and alter the FPA boundaries will increase. The iconic and scenic beauty of Marion County’s horse farms is at risk, unless proactive steps are taken to protect farms for future generations.

Horse Farms Forever invites landowners to join this important conversation about conservation and the county’s TDR program to help protect the Farmland Preservation Area and the open spaces and beautiful places we all love about Marion County.

Busy Shires is director of conservation strategies with Horse Farms Forever.

This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Marion County commission, landowners have tools to protect rural lands