VOLUME 6 ISSUE 7
Ocala’s Mark Emery worked on NBC special. Pg B1
FEBRUARY 14 - 20, 2025
Commissioners seek to assess impact fees on new construction By Jennifer Hunt Murty Jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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Joint office for homelessness hosts annual meeting
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n the coming months, the Marion County Board of County Commissioners will decide whether to assess additional impact fees for transportation needs and restart assessing fire/medical impact fees on new construction to offset the financial effects that new residents and businesses have on Marion County’s infrastructure. During a public workshop held on Jan. 29, the commissioners listened as their consultant, Megan Camp, from the Benesch engineering firm, made recommendations and offered comparison analysis about impact fees charged in other counties. The county suspended impact fees for fire services in 2015 and Commission Chair Kathy Bryant acknowledged during the workshop that the board had waited too long to reinstitute them. According to Assistant County Administrator Tracy Straub, the conversation about impact fees has been languishing since 2022. Currently, the commissioners are limited to increasing fees by no more than 50% unless they have a study within the past 12 months demonstrating extraordinary circumstances, hold two public workshops to discuss those circumstances, and have an affirmative vote by two-thirds of the commissioners, in accordance with a 2021 law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The commissioners were presented a study during the workshop that ref lected extraordinary circumstances. The question was whether they would adopt the recommendations from the consultant and take steps to implement 100% of the recommended impact fees or set them at a reduced rate. The board’s consideration of impact fees follows the school district’s implementation of them last year after a 13-year hiatus. In the case of the school district, the impact fees were only assessed against new residential construction that would result in additional students—excluding See Impact fees, page A5
Angie Peters, Chairperson for the Continuum of Care addresses the crowd during the annual meeting held on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2025 at the Southeastern Livestock. [ Mark Anderson, Marion County Public Relations]
The Marion County Continuum of Care brings together a number of organizations with common goals. By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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ike most communities across the country, Marion County has tried to come to terms with how to tackle homelessness. Following a 2019 local study by the Public Policy Institute, the county and city of Ocala created a joint office to address the issue. On Feb. 11, hundreds gathered at the Southeastern Livestock Pavillion for the first annual meeting of the Marion County Continuum of Care to acknowledge the history of their efforts and the challenges they faced to get to this point.
Hundreds of the stakeholders in attendance responded with an empathetic chuckle as Cheryl Martin, the director of Marion County’s Community Services Department, acknowledged that the effort came with a few learning curves. “When the county and city first came together to discuss the creation of a joint office, I envisioned grand, one-size-fits-all solutions that would end homelessness with an elegant checklist, bringing harmony to the community—and perhaps solving world peace while we were at it. But, as you might guess, I learned some lessons and the reality quickly showed me that things weren’t so simple. Homelessness is
a complex, multifaceted issue, that is not a one-size-fits-all,” Martin said. The partnership is designated as the lead agency addressing homelessness by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and receives federal funds earmarked for addressing homelessness as well as state funds through the Department of Children & Families. The county department Martin oversees handles the red tape associated with funding the joint office and oversees “community development, human services, and affordable housing.” See Continuum of Care , page A2
Overcoming the denominator
Charter schools present plans to improve last year’s failing grades. By Lauren Morrish lauren@ocalagazette.com
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he Marion County School Board speculates that “it is going to be hard to be successful” in improving
school grades for smaller, studentpopulated charter schools that received failing grades for the 2023-24 school year. Two charter schools each presented an “Academic Corrective Action Plan” to the
school board on Feb. 6, in an effort to bring the schools up to a passing grade in the coming year. Ocali Charter High School received a “D,” and McIntosh Area School received an “F.” Ocali Charter High School
Executive Director Theresa Matthews presented first with Ocali’s new plan to raise the school’s 2024-2025 academic year grade. “Our school grades are directly correlated to the success of our teachers,” she said. “Highly
qualified, highly impactful teachers, who motivate students and insist that students master content is where we find our greatest success.” See Charter schools, page A7
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