VOLUME 6 ISSUE 47
A gift
to the community
November 28 - December 4, 2025
Pg B1
Creosote-treated railroad tie stockpile remains despite local opposition By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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rack Line Rail LLC, a Texas-based company seeking to operate a creosotetreated railroad-tie shredding and grinding facility in
unincorporated Marion County, is facing escalating pressure from local government, environmental groups, and residents. Meanwhile, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has yet to decide on the See Creosote-treated railroad, page A5
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Aerial photo of a portion of the stockpile of rail ties on Nov. 17, 2025. [Photo courtesy of Bryce Hale]
Light Up Ocala
BOCC approves Home Depot, Target and Drake Ranch projects By Belea T. Keeney belea@magnoliamediaco.com
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he Marion County Board of County Commissioners voted yes on three major projects in the southwest portion of the county in its Nov. 18 meeting. A new Home Depot at the entrance of On Top of the World was approved, along with an okay for a Target store and apartment complex in the area and a “conservation PUD” style community, Drake Ranch, near the Withlacoochee River and the county line.
HOME DEPOT COMING TO OTOW AREA
Dawson Jennings, 3 1/2, looks over Christmas lights from the shoulders of his mother, Hailey Hamilton, during Light Up Ocala on the Ocala downtown square Nov. 22, 2025.
For many, the annual celebration kicks off the holiday season. By Andy Fillmore andy@ocalagazette.com
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even-year-old Ava Bethea made a wish and pushed a button to illuminate thousands of bright white and multicolored lights strung all around the downtown square and make the 41st annual Light Up Ocala celebration official. The Nov. 22 lighting event drew loud oohs and aahs from the thousands
of spectators who jammed several blocks around the square and watched the culmination of an afternoon-long celebration. Ava is a second grader and the granddaughter of city of Ocala councilman and president pro-tem Ire Bethea. Although Ava wouldn’t divulge her wish, she was excited about being selected to switch on the lights as her mother, Sharongila Bethea, looked on.
The lighting celebration kicked off the Christmas holiday season for many and was enjoyed by spectators of all ages, like Liberty Allen, 7, who was front and center at the stage on the square with her mother, Trechael Nelson, and her mom’s friend, Katherine Fowler. “Beautiful,” Liberty said just after the lights flashed on. She especially liked the
The commission voted 4-1 to approve a special use permit and rezoning back to B-2 Business, reversing the board’s April 2024 approval to allow a multi-family PUD. An apartment complex was planned for the parcel that sits directly east of the OTOW entrance at 8151 State Highway 200 and south of retirement villas that were built there in the 1980s. Commission chair Carl Zalak vetoed the application, saying although he did see the need for this type of store in the area, “this is more intense than a doctor’s office or similar business.” Public comment came from nearly a dozen speakers, all speaking to noise from big-rig trucks and forklifts loading and unloading, the additional traffic to come, the incompatibility of major retail next to a residential area and the need for a solid concrete wall between the rear of the store and the OTOW property line. The opposition speakers were organized, polished and passionate. Most focused on reading back to the board the various commissioners’ comments from its April 2024 hearing, discussing the differences between business and residential usage and the commissioners’ own quotes requiring a wall between businesses and homes. The Home Depot application initially proposed a fence in the rear of the store; the application was ultimately approved with the addition of 6-foot concrete wall placed on a See Home Depot, page A7
See Light Up Ocala, page A6
Marion County Fire Rescue, union proposal An agreement in principal could bring major schedule changes for firefighters and paramedics. By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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arion County Fire Rescue and the firefighters’ union came to a significant breakthrough during their Nov. 17 collective-bargaining session, agreeing in principle to reshape firefighter and paramedic work schedules for the
first time in decades. The proposal — described by both sides as a “major step” toward a healthier, more sustainable workforce — would shift firefighters and paramedics off the traditional 24-hours-on/48-hours-off rotation that averages 56 hours a week and move toward schedules more aligned with national standards and newly signed state law.
Under the deal: • Firefighters would move to a 24/48 schedule with a threeweek Kelly Day, reducing their average workweek from 56 to 48 hours, for the same pay they currently receive under the longer-hour system. • Paramedics would move to a 24/72 schedule — 24 hours on duty followed by 72 hours
off — also for the same pay they currently receive under the longer-hour system. A Kelly Day, first established in Chicago in 1936 under Mayor Edward J. Kelly, provides one day off every three weeks and is designed to help reduce firefighter fatigue. See Union proposal, page A3
Rolin Boyd, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local #3169, at the meeting with Marion County Board of County Commissioners at the Ocala Public Library Headquarters on Nov. 17, 2025. [Photo by Bruce Ackerman]
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INSIDE:
Being grateful................................ A2 IHMC lecture................................ A7 Precision agriculture.................... B2 Free OSO concert......................... B3 Calendar......................................... B6
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