Ocala is getting an eighth fire station. Here's what we know
By a 5-0 vote, the Ocala City Council on Tuesday agreed to purchase property in northwest Ocala that will be the home of a new fire station.
Council President Barry Mansfield, Pro-Tem Kristen Dreyer and council members Ire Bethea, Jim Hilty and Jay Musleh agreed to buy the parcel and eventually begin construction.
The fire station will be built on 7.80 acres behind the Dollar General on U.S. 27 (Blitchton Road,) less than 500 feet from Northwest 44th Avenue.
City documents state the cost of the land is $600,000. The seller is Armstrong Land LLC. Of the $600,000, approximately $524,000 will be in cash. Some of the money will come from the 1% sales tax that supports roads and public safety capital needs. Some will come from the fire impact fee and the fire improvement fund. The remaining funds will come from impact fee credits, city officials said.
About the fire station
An estimated 3 to 4 acres will be used for the fire station. The remaining acreage will be used for other purposes, fire officials said. It's unknown when the fire station will be built.
The city has seven fire stations now, Ocala Fire Rescue Chief Clint Welborn said. Why is an eighth needed? Growth in that part of the city, he said, and the need to assist with fire coverage in nearby areas.
Welborn said the fire station closest to the soon-to-be built Station 8 is three miles away: Station 1, 505 NW Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.
Other city business
At the same meeting, in another unanimous vote, city officials approved an agreement with two companies — Commercial Industrial Corp. and Art Walker Construction Inc. — for Phases 1 and 2 of the Northwest 44th Avenue extension project.
With a 10 percent contingency for each, the total cost is a little more than $15.5 million. City officials said there's a third phase coming, as well.
When completed, the roadway with be four lanes and a little more than three miles long. It will extend from Southwest 42nd Street at State Road 200 to U.S. 27. Along the way, the road will cross over State Road 40. The road also will connect to State Road 326.
City council also voted 5-0 to terminate the city's agreement with The Notice Company for administering claims regarding the fire fee refund.
The issue was presented during the city attorney's report. With the vote, council plans to send The Notice Company a letter explaining its intention.
The reason to drop The Notice Company? City officials feel confident they can handle the rest of the payments to customers. City officials said they're currently handling the second phase of the payments.
So far, city officials said, 68,217 checks equaling just more than $66 million have been issued to customers. City officials said they took over in September. In October, the city distributed 46,796 checks totaling $5.19 million.
In 2022, city council decided to pay a claims adjuster (The Notice Company, Inc., of Massachusetts) $200,000 to administer the fire fee dispersal. The company has been tasked with verifying addresses and mailing checks to class members of the class-action lawsuit.
Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: NW Ocala land purchase clears the way for a new fire station
