VOCAL Plans Two New Buildings on Its SW 52nd Street Campus: A 5,187-Square-Foot Clinic and Resource Center and a 3,507-Square-Foot Quarantine Building

What is proposed: Two new buildings at the VOCAL campus, 6393 SW 52nd St., Ocala: a 5,187-square-foot "Veterinary Clinic & Resource Center" (Phase I) and a 3,507-square-foot "Veterinary Quarantine/Isolation Building" (Phase II), with 48 parking spaces, on the nonprofit's 22.55-acre parcel. The concept plan, prepared by Clymer Farner Barley and filed Sept. 28, 2026, is item 7.1 on the Marion County Development Review Committee agenda for Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, at 9 a.m. at the Office of the County Engineer, 412 SE 25th Ave. A conceptual review is an early look; county staff wrote that a Major Site Plan will still be required before anything is built.

Voices of Change Animal League, the Ocala nonprofit that runs a low-cost spay and neuter clinic, a pet food bank and an adoption program from a onetime greyhound kennel property on SW 52nd Street, wants to add a second clinic building and an isolation building to its campus. The plan is laid out in the county's agenda packet for the Nov. 2 Development Review Committee (DRC) meeting, which is dated Oct. 30. The committee, made up of the county engineer, the Growth Services director, the Utilities director, the Planning and Zoning manager and the fire marshal, meets Mondays at 9 a.m. and reviews site plans for compliance with the county's land development code.

What the concept plan shows

The site data table on the plan sheet, drawn by Clymer Farner Barley of Middleton, lists a 22.55-acre project area on parcel 23831-005-00, zoned General Agriculture (A-1) with an Employment Center future land use. The proposed use is "veterinary clinic & kennel." The engineer projects one veterinarian per day, four days a week, and 14 total employees on campus at a time, and shows 44 standard and four accessible parking spaces, 48 in all. Building setbacks are 25 feet front, side and rear. The existing trees along the property boundary are proposed to satisfy landscape buffer requirements, which county planners noted would require a waiver.

On the drawing, the Phase I Veterinary Clinic & Resource Center (5,187 square feet) sits in the center of a new one-way drive loop north of SW 52nd Street, with parking on three sides. The Phase II Veterinary Quarantine/Isolation Building (3,507 square feet) is to its southwest, near the existing kennel building. An existing cat kennel is labeled "to be relocated or demolished," with an approximate location for a relocated cat kennel shown at the north end of the site and its size "to be determined." The existing clinic, an existing shed and an existing kennel building and facility remain. County stormwater staff summarized the two structures as "collectively 8,694 sf" and said the plan proposes to use the existing drainage retention area.

The plan notes that the property is served by an onsite septic system and an onsite well. The county's utilities reviewer wrote that Marion County Utilities has private development projects planned along SW 52nd Street that will include future utility infrastructure, with construction timelines "currently uncertain," and that depending on timing the county would allow the project to connect to either Bay Laurel Utilities or the City of Ocala, provided the chosen utility can serve the site with both water and sewer. A letter from the utility provider confirming capacity will be required at plan review. The plan sheet also states the site lies within the secondary springs protection zone and in flood zone X.

What county staff flagged

• Zoning and the greyhound exception. Growth Services planners wrote that a 1985 special exception on the property "lists Kennels for Greyhounds explicitly" and that kennels for other breeds or animal species will require a special use permit; the site plan shows kennels for cats. The plan sheet cites a Nov. 8, 2016 letter from the county's planning and zoning manager recognizing the 1985 special exception as allowing greyhound kennel activity on the western 495 feet of the property and recognizing the remainder as an existing greyhound facility at the time of the special exception.


• Traffic. The county's traffic reviewer calculated that, under the Institute of Transportation Engineers' animal hospital/veterinary clinic land use, the entire complex could generate 88 PM peak-hour trips by floor area or 17 by employees, and that the new buildings would add "about 30 pm peak hour trips." The reviewer asked whether the clinic would serve only animals sheltered on site or also the public's pets, said a traffic assessment or statement may be required, and noted that SW 52nd Street may need to be built to minor local road standards from SW 60th Avenue to the project driveways, with right-of-way dedicated, and that "multiple surrounding projects, including OTOW, are planning on extending SW 52nd Street," so the site would need to connect to that buildout once constructed.


• Street name. The 911 Management and Growth Services reviewers both noted that the plan labels the road "SW 52nd Avenue"; the correct name is SW 52nd Street.


• Other corrections. Planners asked for existing and proposed floor area ratios, a list of existing and proposed uses, outside storage and dumpster locations, a list of requested waivers on the cover sheet, and buffer types and dimensions. Each of those items is marked "Resolved" in the review record, which shows the Office of the County Engineer's plan review started Oct. 1 and was marked complete and approved Oct. 27.

The "Expanding Our Pawprint" campaign

VOCAL's own website describes the project as its "Expanding Our Pawprint" capital campaign, in phases that line up with the county filing. Phase I is a Welcome Center "to support expanded clinic services, pet food bank operations, education, collaboration, donor engagement, and community outreach," with reception, exam rooms, a pet food pantry, a conference room and a multi-purpose room. Phase II is an Intake & Recovery building with kennel areas, sick bays, cat intake space, exam space, laundry and recovery areas, designed "to help protect shelter health" and let the group take in more animals. A "Phase III and beyond" lists areas for new dog mothers and puppies, long-term housing for senior pets, expanded cat spaces and walking trails.

The campaign page lists naming opportunities from $250 pavers to a $500,000 reception area, and marks the education space ($150,000) and the conference room ($216,000) as sold. It gives the campaign contact as Linda Norman, development director and co-founder, at 352-895-3132 or the main office at 352-289-0800. The county filing lists Lauren Carpenter of Voices of Change Animal League as developer and owner, and the Marion County Property Appraiser's record card in the packet shows a December 2024 special warranty deed transferring the land to the league. Neither the county packet nor VOCAL's campaign page gives a construction timeline, a cost or a fundraising total.

VOCAL's clinic at 6393 SW 52nd St. offers low-cost spay and neuter surgery, vaccine clinics and low-cost procedures; see our VOCAL guide for hours and how appointments work, and our guides to veterinary services in Ocala, pet adoption in Ocala and Ocala nonprofits. The county's November meeting schedule is in our public meetings calendar for November 2026.

Sources: Marion County Development Review Committee agenda and agenda packet for Nov. 2, 2026 (item 7.1, Conceptual-001417-2026, including the Submittal Summary Report, the concept plan sheet and the property record card), read Oct. 31, 2026; the county's Permitting & Development Review page for how the DRC works; vocalforpets.org/capital-campaign.