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Ocala council adopts land-use and rezoning changes for city-owned parcels
Summary
The Ocala City Council on March 18 approved four ordinances to reclassify and rezone multiple city-owned parcels—from Employment Center/M-1 to Public/GU—to reflect government use and planned improvements, following staff recommendations and unanimous council votes.
On March 18, 2025, the Ocala City Council voted to adopt four ordinances to change the future land-use designation and zoning for two clusters of city-owned parcels, providing a public land-use classification and governmental-use (GU) zoning that staff said aligns with the properties' existing and intended uses.
City planning staff told the council the requests were city-initiated to align land-use and zoning for parcels that currently serve municipal functions. Emily Johnson, senior planner with Growth Management, said the request "is a city staff initiated request to change the future land use designation of the subject properties from employment center to public and rezone from M-1 light industrial to GU governmental use." She said one property currently houses administrative offices for the Ocala Fiber Network and that the other parcel is under review for a capital improvement project that would add a truck shed and parking.
Planning staff recommended approval for each case and noted that the Planning & Zoning Commission had recommended approval on the items (one vote recorded as 5–0). There was no public comment on the items during the council hearing.
The four ordinances adopted on second and final reading were: - Ordinance 2025-18 (Case LUC25-0002): amend the Future Land Use Map from Employment Center to Public for parcels identified by staff (approximately 12.81 acres; parcel numbers cited in the ordinance). Councilman Mansfield introduced the motion; the council recorded unanimous aye votes during the roll call. - Ordinance 2025-19 (Case ZON25-0002): amend the zoning map from M-1 Light Industrial to GU Governmental Use for the same 12.81-acre site. The council adopted the rezoning following the land-use amendment. - Ordinance 2025-20 (Case LUC25-0001): amend the Future Land Use Map from Employment Center to Public for a second site in the 1800 block of Southwest 15th Avenue (approximately 12.42 acres). Councilman Irie Bethea introduced this motion; the Planning & Zoning Commission had voted unanimously to recommend approval. - Ordinance 2025-21 (Case ZON25-0001): amend the zoning map for the Southwest 15th Avenue parcels from M-1 Light Industrial to GU Governmental Use; the council adopted the rezoning after the land-use amendment.
City staff said both proposed rezoning requests are consistent with the requested public future land-use category and compatible with surrounding properties, and that city utilities and adequate public facilities exist to service the parcels. No amendments or conditions were offered by council members during the hearings.
Council roll-call responses recorded on the transcript show the votes for these items as unanimous among members who responded at roll call (Councilman Mansfield; Councilman Hilty; Councilman Bethea; Councilman Musley; Council President Pam Dreyer). The ordinances include standard provisions for severability and direction to staff; each ordinance also references the effective date language included in the ordinance text.
By adopting the changes, the council formalized city ownership and governmental use as the official future land-use and zoning for the two sites, allowing staff to proceed with the planned capital improvements and administrative uses identified in presentations by growth-management staff.
The council did not set any additional conditions in the meeting and no appeals or remands were raised during the hearing.
