Ocala railroaded by big business again

Florida Northern Railroad tracks through downtown is set to get more traffic due to a special use permit approved by the Marion County Board of County Commissioners with the support of the CEP. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.

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Posted October 30, 2024 | By Ocala Gazette Editorial Board

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About a month ago, we watched the Marion County Board of Commissioners issue a special-use permit to Advanced Drainage Systems to convert the former Certified Grocer site at 6045 SE 83^rd St. into a plastic pipe manufacturing plant, all with the backing of the Ocala/Marion County Chamber & Economic Partnership CEO, Kevin Sheilly and his board.

The decision adversely impacts businesses and residents in downtown Ocala and all but kills plans by advocates hoping to turn the decrepit railroad line at the site into a pedestrian trail that would make our city so much easier to traverse safely.

What was hard to understand at the time was just why objections from the entire city of Ocala leadership, downtown businesses, residents from affected neighborhoods near the heart of the city were not enough to move the commissioners to, at a minimum, order a traffic study to explore concerns raised about more railroad cars expected to run through an already busy area.

The railroad divides southeast Ocala residents from their hospitals, and Ocala leaders expressed concerned that increased rail traffic would also slow first responders headed to that area. The line now has four to five rail cars traveling through the area each day. The ADS proposal would boost that to about 48 cars, stretching for miles through downtown and blocking key intersections for long periods of time as the cars try to safely navigate the aging railroad line built in the 1800s.

The special-use permit was to facilitate the purchase of the vacant Silver Springs Shores eyesore, an old distribution center at the American Commerce Park that started going up in 1976. It was easy to be excited about the building finally getting a new lease on life.

Turning the 450,000-square-foot Certified Grocer facility into a manufacturing plant could create up to 300 new jobs by the year 2031, county leaders were told.

But that excitement evaporated when the special-use permit that came before the county included greatly increasing traffic on the railroad artery that runs from the shores, through residential neighborhoods, into downtown in front the new hotel downtown, crosses Silver Springs downtown, and rolls into Tuscawilla Park.

It seemed obvious that such a significant decision should involve more than just county officials, since it went contrary to the city’s long-term vision of making the downtown and midtown areas more pedestrian friendly and easing traffic congestion.

The commissioners gave lip service the concerns of increased rail traffic, but nowhere in the special-use permit application process did they restrict the number of cars or rail trips the company might run through the heart of the city.

Ocala City Manager Pete Lee argued in a letter to the commissioners on Sept. 10, weeks before their hearing, that the city should be included in the decision.

He cited the county’s own policy in his letter. “Policy 10.4.4 of the County’s Comprehensive Plan, Future Land Use Element, states the County shall utilize joint planning and interlocal agreements to address community needs on a regional basis when reviewing development activities that may impact other jurisdictions. Even in the absence of a specific interlocal agreement, there should be coordination between the County and the City regarding the development impacts created by additional rail traffic.”

The city manager, along with every city council member and the mayor of Ocala, told the commission that the current level of  rail traffic already is a nuisance and that they would rather explore a vision of getting the rail line turned into a trail. Such a trail would also allow safe bike and pedestrian traffic through the most congested parts of Ocala and could serve students traveling to and from school and people wanting to walk from their homes to shops downtown.

On the day of the BOCC hearing, the city council, the mayor and Lee were at a regularly scheduled meeting across town. But Lee sent his Chief of Staff, Chris Watt, to deliver the city’s objections. Watt, who is an attorney, delivered the city’s objections within the two minutes afforded all of the business owners and residents who showed up to object to the special-use permit.

The “Gazette” asked Commission Chair Michelle Stone why city leaders were not given more time to introduce evidence in support of their objections to the special-use permit. Stone said it was because the city officials didn’t ask for more than the standard two minutes. “I’d like to think had they asked for more than two minutes, I would have given it to them,” she added.

The Marion County School District publicly discussed the benefit of trails and decided to send a representative to the meeting to ask the commissioners to explore the vision.

Testimony from Florida Northern Railroad and ADS’ local lawyer, Robert Batsel, about the number of increased cars on the trains, restrictions about the trains running no faster than 10 miles an hour, or each train trip holding up an intersection no more than three minutes were discussed but none of those issues were included in the special-use permit the county issued.

Also notably absent was any mention of the glaring conflicts of interest at play.

For example, Batsel, the former Ocala city attorney whose firm had researched the city’s power over the rail easement years earlier, was now representing ADS before the commissioners. The law firm still works for the city, yet there was no written conflict of interest waiver between the firm and the city.

Batsel also sits on the CEP board, whose members encouraged the BOCC to approve the project.

According to the Aug. 22 CEP meeting minutes, all CEP board members unanimously approved the motion by Ken Ausley, of Ausley Construction and a member of the CEP executive board, to support ADS’ special-use permit.

According to the minutes, only Batsel and County Administrator Mounir Bouyanes recused themselves from the CEP vote.

City Manager Pete Lee is a member of the CEP leadership. Lee, speaking through City Attorney William Sexton, indicated that despite what the CEP meeting minutes reflect h did not support the CEP initiative. Sexton also provided a copy of Lee’s Sept. 10 letter to the BOCC opposing the project.

Sheilly provided the Aug. 22 minutes to the “Gazette” after having them “approved” by the board just last week, and there was no added context about Lee’s dispute of them..

The potential for conflicts of interest in the CEP board’s vote are also ripe for exploring. Emeritus board member Doug Cone and CEP Treasurer Navroz Saju are building a competing hotel downtown to the one spearheaded by Danny Gaekwad on the downtown square. Their competitor having increased rail traffic feet from his hotel may make their hotel a more desirable pick for guests.

Gaekwad was among the downtown business owners who implored the commissioners during the hearing not to approve the special-use permit because of the impact the project would have on downtown.

BOCC Chair Stone and her husband, Charles, own Stone Petroleum, located downtown adjacent to the railroad track. Stone did not mention her feelings about how the city’s desire to work toward a rails-to-trail long-term plan might impact their business or the value of the real estate.

We’ve watched it happen multiple times: Ocala leaders make a development decision that will impact a major artery of the county and vice versa.

We cringe knowing so many roads are already graded poorly due to upkeep and congestion. Maricamp Road is a prime example. Despite being at a failure level, the city and county kept approving more development that would impact the road. Residents may have no idea of the full impact they will soon be facing as those building permits begin being pulled.

In May, members of the “Gazette” editorial team met with Stone, Bouyounes, County Attorney Guy Minter and members of the planning and engineering teams to discuss how the county makes development decisions; specifically, those that go against public concerns and protests.

We specifically pointed to development approval decisions where area public safety agencies and public schools were already operating over capacity.

In a nutshell, when it came to new houses being built near an already taxed fire department, for example, the county officials said the approvals were made with plans to expand capacity. This, they said, is how they overcame concerns that decisions were being made against public interest.

But that sounds like a pipe dream. Expand capacity using what money? And when? The county already has a multibillion-dollar infrastructure backlog on projects intended to meet the needs of developments that have already been approved.

The county officials said they hope to have the road improvements funded by the sales tax. Next week, Marion County voters will decide whether to renew a 1-cent sales tax increase but this time for 20 years instead of in four-year increments.

When we asked how the county decided voters had an appetite for a higher tax for 20 years, they indicated they relied on the CEP, which had done polling and said they could help get voters’ approval. The “Gazette” asked for the CEP for that polling information and our request was denied.

The CEP is a 501(c)(6) entity, which is a nonprofit organization. According to the Internal Revenue Service, “Chambers of commerce and boards of trade usually promote the common economic interests of all the commercial enterprises in a given trade community.”

But with the CEP, the influence is much larger. The CEP has been contracted by the city and county over the past 10 years to handle economic development instead of the governments having their own in-house departments, as was the case before they contracted with the CEP.

Conservatively, the CEP has been paid more than $6 million in cash, real estate and other consideration in the last decade for their services.

We asked Sheilly how the CEP decides which member to support when there is conflict. He wrote back indicating that the CEP board had already made its decision before hearing an objection from the city of Ocala. In the ADS case, he simply followed his board’s direction.

Sheilly wrote to the CEP board following the county’s hearing to inform them that the hearing was successful for ADS and included nothing in the email about the city or surrounding businesses’ opposition to the project.

According to the CEP meeting minutes this year, the CEP’s political action committee has raised $200,000 to help promote the county’s 1-cent sales tax referendum.