Ocala CRA Grant Overhaul, 133 New Home Lots and Top Staff Reappointments on Oct. 20 City Agendas

The Ocala Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) board will vote Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, on a rewrite of the city's CRA home and business improvement grants. The changes would shorten approval times, require funded work to be maintained longer, and let the city manager approve smaller grants without waiting for a board meeting. The CRA meets at 3:45 p.m., and City Council follows at 4 p.m., both in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 110 SE Watula Ave., according to the city's CRA agenda and City Council agenda for Oct. 20. The council and CRA board are the same five members.

Digitally generated illustration of exterior repainting. Not a photo of a CRA-funded project.

What Would Change in Ocala CRA Grants

The CRA covers four areas: Downtown, East Ocala, West Ocala and North Magnolia. In fiscal 2025-26 it awarded 55 grants: 33 residential (25 in East Ocala, seven in West Ocala, one in North Magnolia), 20 commercial (10 East Ocala, four North Magnolia, three West Ocala, three Downtown) and two historic building grants. The proposed changes, presented by Growth Management, include:

• Faster decisions: applications would go straight to the CRA board, cutting the average approval time from 76 days to 50, and would be accepted on a rolling basis.
• Administrative approvals: the city manager or a designee could approve grants of $10,000 or less per application, up to $50,000 per CRA area per year, with a decision expected within about 10 business days. Applicants who qualify for more could accept $10,000 to use this route. Decisions could be appealed to the CRA board within 15 days, and the city would post a list of administrative decisions every two weeks.
• Priority work (Group A): for homes, windows and doors, roofing, HVAC and insulation, termite tenting, ADA ramps, demolition of unsafe structures and new single-family construction. For businesses, converting vacant buildings to active use, ADA access, full facade work, parking lots, demolition and new construction. Other work, such as painting, fencing or landscaping, must be paired with a priority item or include at least three items.
• Longer upkeep: homeowners would have to maintain funded improvements for 10 years instead of five.
• One quote: commercial and historic applicants could submit a single quote if it comes from a licensed general contractor.
• Compliance: recipients who do not comply would repay the grant or lose eligibility for five years, and payments would go only to the applicant named on the application. Residential applicants with open CRA projects on the same parcel would not be eligible.
• New incentives: a $5,000 bonus for new affordable single-family homes, ADA work in all areas, and murals and sculptures in North Magnolia.

Under the draft frameworks, home grants top out at $20,000 plus any bonus, with the city paying 75% and the owner 25%. North Magnolia homeowners converting from septic to city sewer would have that work paid 100%. Business grants top out at $50,000 in East and West Ocala and $30,000 in North Magnolia (up from $20,000), with a 60/40 city-owner match that rises to 75/25 for properties on a major corridor. Historic building grants in the Tuscawilla and Ocala historic districts stay at up to $40,000 with a 60/40 match.

Which programs reopen: the West Ocala, East Ocala and North Magnolia grant programs would reopen once the revised frameworks are approved. The Downtown commercial grant is still being revised and will come back at a later meeting.

City Council Agenda Highlights

• Reappointments: two-year terms starting Nov. 1 for City Manager Peter Lee, Police Chief Michael Balken, City Attorney William Sexton, City Clerk Angel Jacobs and Internal Auditor Vincent Iovino. City code calls for these appointments at the second October meeting of even-numbered years.
• Oakcrest Park: a 78-lot single-family subdivision on 24.72 acres along NE 28th Street, zoned R-1AA, with 60-by-110-foot minimum lots and sidewalks on both sides of its streets. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval Sept. 14.
• Greenway Reserve: a developer's agreement for 55 lots on 12.67 acres, with a $37,500 payment to the sidewalk fund in place of a sidewalk on NE 25th Avenue and a tree required on every lot.
• Medical office at 325 SE 24th Street: final reading of a rezoning and a planned development plan for a 21,000-square-foot medical office on 4.26 acres, with access from SE Third Avenue and SE 24th Street. At the Planning and Zoning Commission, residents raised traffic safety on SE 24th Street and flooding in the Fisher Park area, and letters of objection are in the packet. The commission recommended approval 7-0, and staff recommends conditions on sidewalks, buffers and sign lighting.
• Church site on NE 14th Street: first reading of a rezoning of 13.34 acres at 2015 and 2141 NE 14th Street to Institutional for a proposed church; final reading Nov. 3.
• Flyover Ocala: a waiver of the one-year wait so Flyover Ocala, LLC can seek separate zoning for 108.74 acres it bought from the 283.55-acre Mockingbird Ridge planned development approved May 5.
• Peoples Gas: final reading of a new franchise agreement with Peoples Gas System that keeps about $622,000 a year flowing to the city's general fund.
• Alcohol permits: package sales in sealed containers for Spot on Liquors, 125 NW 27th Ave., Unit 107 (the agenda title says beer and wine; the staff report describes beer, wine and liquor), and beer and wine by the drink for Yummy House, 2510 SW 27th Ave., Unit 103.

The same agenda includes the final vote on repealing the business tax receipt and alcohol sales for the Ocala Arts Festival on Oct. 24 and 25.

How to Speak

Speakers at either meeting must fill out a public comment card and give it to the City Clerk before the meeting starts; comments are limited to three minutes. Written comments sent to the clerk ahead of time go into the record. Accommodations can be requested at 352-629-8401 at least 48 hours ahead. For background, see our Oct. 6 meetings recap, the downtown Ocala guide and our local government guide.

Sources: Ocala Community Redevelopment Area Agency Board agenda, Oct. 20, 2026, items 5a-5c, with the administrative decision framework and the revised and previous residential, commercial and historic grant frameworks; Ocala City Council revised agenda, Oct. 20, 2026, items 6b, 6c, 6l-6p, 8b, 9a, 9b, 9d, 9e, 9i and 10a, with staff reports. Checked Oct. 18, 2026.