VOLUME 2 ISSUE 20
Ocala Symphony
Season Starts
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Saturday, Nov. 20th Visit Reillyartscenter.com
NOVEMBER 19 - NOVEMBER 25, 2021
Fading Fields
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Alan Youngblood/Ocala Gazette
Cotton grows in a field at the intersection of West SR 40 and Southwest 60th Avenue in Ocala, Florida on Monday November 16, 2021. There is a zoning change proposed for the property.
Another open space going away for development?
Beds for the homeless Interfaith in talks to purchase 14-unit complex for Permanent Support Housing By James Blevins Ocala Gazette With cold weather patterns slowly creeping in the last few weeks, Marion County’s many homeless citizens are in desperate need of housing. Ocala’s Interfaith Emergency Services is working diligently to help alleviate that issue one bed at a time before winter sets in. Currently in talks to purchase a 14-unit building from Arnette House, Inc., Interfaith is hoping to establish a newly planned Permanent Support Housing (PSH) complex off N.E. 14th St. in Ocala. The contract between the two nonprofits has at this time established a closing date of Dec. 31 or sooner for the sale. CEO of Interfaith Karla Greenway said the PSH program provides staff on site to help individuals that can’t effectively
live on their own. “They’re capable of self-care,” she clarified. “They’re capable of some basic things, but they’re just not capable of Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette maintaining Karla Greenway, the CEO of Interfaith Emergency Services, gives stable housing, James Ponder, who has been homeless for 26 years, a hi-five not without a lot outside one of the residential units. of support.” Along with the complex prior to Interfaith’s on-site case management, the planned purchase. program also features wrap“There‘s not really any other around services such as trauma low-income housing available; counseling, while targeting to if we displaced them, then we help people that are intellectually would just add to the homeless disabled or suffer from mental situation,” explained Greenway. health issues. “So, we‘re letting the families The complex on N.E. 14th that are currently leasing St. will be multi-use for the first remain.” couple of years due to some low-income families still living in See Beds, page A2
ity Council approved RLR Investments rezoning request for 79.66 acres north of West Highway 40 and west of NW 60th Ave. at the Nov. 2, 2021, city council meeting. Principals of RLR Investments, LLC, include Ralph Roberts, Sr., and Mary D. Roberts, the principals behind the World Equestrian Center. The company’s attorney was unresponsive to multiple inquiries to learn what the planned use was for the property and to find out whether the property was leased to a farmer who raised the cotton crops there now. In notes by city staff recommending approval of the zoning change to city council and the planning and zoning commission, they described the property as “undeveloped” and the future use “low intensity.” The land had previously been annexed into the City of Ocala in 2013 and had historically been used for agricultural purposes until this request. RLR Investments bought the property for $2 million in Feb. 2019. The 79.66 acres is the largest track of land owned by RLR Investments in Marion County. A review of 153 property records associated with RLR Investments on the Marion County Property Appraiser’s website showed the entity primarily owns vacant lots within or attached to Golden Ocala. Nancy Smith, Senior Planner for the City of Ocala Growth Management Department, indicated that RLR Investments did not identify their plans for future use of the property with their rezoning request and did not know the farmer who grew crops on the land currently.
OPD reports no open lodging arrests since March: By James Blevins Ocala Gazette The Ocala Police Department (OPD) hasn’t arrested a person, regardless of whether they are homeless or not, on the charge of “open lodging” since March of 2021, according OPD. First established in 2002, the original city ordinance against open lodging made a person subject to arrest in the city if they were sleeping in public and admitted to being homeless. In February, U.S. District Judge James Moody ruled in a case challenging the ordinance that city police failure to inquire about shelter availability prior to arresting a homeless person for open lodging violated the Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution. Moody’s ruling also put the focus on the shelter situation locally. According to the lawsuit, on any given night, approximately 150 homeless people go without shelter in the county. But there are only 65 shelter beds available in the county
for single adults. After the court ruling, the Ocala City Council unanimously voted to amend the ordinance on March 2, eliminating the homeless reference. Under the new tweaked ordinance, police officers would have to check on the availability of beds at nearby shelters before arresting anyone for open lodging in the city but could still arrest someone for open lodging without asking the individual if he or she was homeless. Around the time of Moody’s ruling, Interfaith attempted to set up a temporary open-air shelter where 15 to 20 homeless people could sleep safely behind a fence, protected by armed security, and offered access to services and facilities. The idea ran afoul of city zoning rules, though, and city council denied Interfaith’s temporary shelter a path to legal status in May. OPD does not report an increase of complaints or other issues due to a lack of open lodging arrests, according to Jeffrey See No Open Lodging, page A2
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Overcrowding in schools....... City Council ............................ Black History Museum.......... State News ............................... Calendar ..................................
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