OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Ocala City Council Work Session Summary – May 12, 2026

City Council & Boards — Tuesday, May 12, 2026
BodyOcala, Florida
SessionCity Council & Boards
DateTuesday, May 12, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:06:29

Transcript — Verbatim
2:31

Mr.

2:32

Marciano.

2:33

Here.

2:33

Ms.

2:33

Dreyer.

2:34

Here.

2:36

Mr.

2:37

Mansfield?

2:37

Here.

2:38

Mr.

2:38

Musley.

2:39

Here.

2:39

Mr.

2:39

Bathay.

2:40

Here.

2:41

Will you provide us with the public notice?

2:44

Yes, the May twelfth, two thousand twenty-six City Council work session was publicly noticeed on Did I say May six?

2:52

I mean the City Council work session, May twelfth, two thousand twenty-six was publicly noticed on May sixth, two thousand twenty-six on the City of Ocala's website.

3:01

Thank you.

3:01

Our topics of discussion today is uh for A is safe streets for all.

3:12

Yes, sir.

3:13

Safe Streets for All, and then we'll do our transportation improvement plan and recycling update.

3:18

Um, let you know where we are, we have those times so that we have we can get this all done in an hour with questions.

3:25

Um we will begin if you'd like.

3:29

Yes, sir.

3:30

Thank you.

4:12

This builds upon, it's meant to build upon the O'Calamarian TPO's uh commitment to zero action plan, and but focus on the local streets within the city of Ocala.

4:25

And there's really two purposes to this project.

4:28

Uh, first is to develop a local road safety plan, including the development of a high injury network, and second is to develop a citywide speed management and traffic calming plan.

4:43

As you probably remember, funding for the project was obtained through a safe streets and roads for all twenty twenty-three grant for planning and demonstration and supplemental planning activities.

5:00

80% of the funding was obtained through this grant, and the city provided the other 20% of the funds.

5:07

There's six project tasks, including crash analysis, research and literature review.

5:13

We had extensive public involvement, development of the local road safety plan, and the speed management and traffic calming plan.

5:26

So this study analyzed crash data for the five years between 2020 and 2024.

5:33

However, we did take a look at the fatal and severe injury crashes between 2014 to 2024.

5:40

We were looking at the crash trends.

5:42

And there was a spike in serious injury crashes in 2018.

5:47

But there's been a decline since, so that's very good news.

5:52

And then up in the upper right, looking at the age distribution of crashes, this is just 2024.

5:59

Those age 65 and up are experiencing the most fatal and severe injury crashes within the city.

6:16

In 2024, there were still 53 serious injuries and 19 fatalities.

6:24

And then looking at the fatal and severe injury emphasis areas, we see that the City of Ocala intersections are the top emphasis area for fatal and severe injury crashes, followed by pedestrian and bicycle crashes, and then impaired driving.

6:45

And then going beyond, we checked the 2025 and 2026 crashes to date just to see how we're doing.

6:52

In 2025, there were still 53 serious injury crashes.

7:03

2026 so far, there are 11 serious injuries and four fatalities to date.

7:12

So KSI crashes, those are crashes that result in someone being either killed or seriously injured.

7:20

So from here I'm going to be calling that KSI.

7:24

So looking at the KSI crashes within the city by crash type, left turns have the highest number of KSI crashes, followed by rear-end crashes.

7:35

However, the highest number of fatal crashes is with the pedestrians.

7:42

Looking at lighting condition, we had 54.6% of all fatal crashes and 42.1% of all KSI crashes occurred during non-daylight hours.

8:11

Vulnerable road users accounted for only 4.7% of the total crashes within the city, but accounted for 40% of the KSI crashes and 63% of the fatal crashes.

8:25

So that just demonstrates to you how overrepresented our vulnerable road users, especially our pedestrians are in our high severity crashes.

8:49

So crashes were assigned to segments and then segments, individual segments were combined to form and create this high injury network that you see here.

9:00

And here is the list of the high injury network segments.

9:06

It's 12 roadway segments comprising 51 high KSI crashes, of which 12 of those were fatal.

9:16

So these 12 segments make up only 3.8% of the locally maintained roadway network, but they account for 23.3% of the KSI crashes and 25% of the fatal crashes along locally maintained roads.

9:33

So by identifying the high injury network, what you're able and prior prioritizing the efforts there, which are able to do, is focus your limited resources on the areas that are most likely to benefit in terms of fatal and severe injury crash reduction.

9:54

As part of the studies, we can conducted research and literature review.

10:00

There's a number of different manuals, documents, websites, vision zero action plans for other agencies that were reviewed.

10:07

The goal was to identify potential actions, strategies, and best practices to be transferred and used within the City of Ocallis planning studies.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Transportation Safety█████████████████████████████████████████████48%
Public Engagement███████████████16%
Parks and Recreation█████████████14%
Water And Wastewater Management█████████████14%
Budget Equity Analysis███3%
Procedural██2%
Public Safety██2%
Community Engagement█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Ocala City Council Work Session Summary – May 12, 2026

The Ocala City Council held a work session on May 12, 2026, at 5:00 PM to discuss three major topics: the Safe Streets for All plan, the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP), and an update on curbside recycling changes. Staff presented detailed proposals and progress reports, and council members provided feedback and direction on next steps.

Safe Streets for All

  • Staff presented the Safe Streets for All (SS4A) planning studies, funded by an 80% federal grant with a 20% city match. The study analyzed crash data from 2020-2024 (with fatal/severe injury data from 2014-2024) to develop a Local Road Safety Plan and a Speed Management/Traffic Calming Plan.
  • Key highlights: 53 serious injuries and 19 fatalities in 2024; 53 serious injuries in 2025; and 11 serious injuries and 4 fatalities so far in 2026. Vulnerable road users (pedestrians, bicyclists) accounted for 4.7% of total crashes but 40% of KSI (killed or seriously injured) crashes and 63% of fatalities.
  • A High Injury Network of 12 roadway segments (3.8% of locally maintained roads) accounts for 23.3% of KSI crashes and 25% of fatalities. Emphasis areas: intersections, vulnerable road users, distracted driving, speeding/aggressive driving, and aging road users (65+).
  • The Speed Management Plan includes a traffic calming policy with a request application process, and identifies 15 priority speed management segments.
  • The city is preparing a 2026 SS4A implementation grant application for: Southwest 27th Avenue safety improvements, citywide traffic signal back plates, speed feedback signs in school zones, traffic safety campaigns, and a drone pilot by Ocala PD.
  • Council requested adoption of the planning studies at the May 19, 2026 City Council meeting to maintain grant eligibility and meet federal reporting requirements.

Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP)

  • Jeff Sram from Growth Management presented the draft Transportation Improvement Plan, a tool for long- and short-term transportation planning. The TIP includes four sections: capacity projects, operational/intersection improvements, bicycle/pedestrian projects, and public transit projects.
  • The draft lists 78 unfunded sidewalk projects. No dedicated funding source exists for sidewalks; council discussed creating a dedicated annual sidewalk budget (e.g., $300,000) and using fee-in-lieu options, especially for M1/M2 industrial zones.
  • Staff shared an updated sidewalk gap map and emphasized coordination with the school board to prioritize safe routes to school and school bus stop locations.
  • Council members expressed strong support for increased sidewalk investment, better lighting at crossing points, and exploring a “sidewalk bank” where developers pay in lieu of constructing sidewalks on-site.
  • A correction was noted: project C9 (State Road 40 widening from I-75 to NW 60th Ave) was erroneously shown on the map but has been removed from the long-range plan.

Recycling Update

  • Dwayne Drake, Sanitation Division head, presented the transition to recycling drop-offs, effective July 1, 2026, following the February 3, 2026 adoption of the rate study that eliminated curbside recycling.
  • Key cost details: the city will pay $125 per ton for recycling disposal (Marion County pays $137.70 per ton); the city will pay Waste Pro $18 per recycling cart to purchase and repurpose carts as second garbage carts. Residents with a third cart will have the extra cart removed.
  • Eight drop-off locations were announced: Mary Sue Ridge Community Center, Krosky Center/MLK Jr. Recreation Complex, Ocala Regional Sportsplex, Holly Palmer Park, Fire Station #5 (NE 25th Ave & NE 24th St), NE 8th Ave & NE 14th St, Jervey Gantt Park, and SE 31st St & SE 5th Terrace. Scott Springs was considered but not chosen.
  • Accepted items: cardboard, metal cans, paper, and plastic bottles/jugs. Glass will not be accepted at drop-offs.
  • Staff will conduct outreach via website, press releases, social media, utility bill inserts, and possibly sticky notes on recycling bins on final collection days. The last curbside recycling collection will be in June; residents can keep their recycling cart as a second garbage cart.
  • Council questioned route efficiency with additional carts and was assured adjustments would be made as needed.

Key Outcomes

  • Safe Streets for All: The council will consider adopting the Local Road Safety Plan and Speed Management/Traffic Calming Plan at the May 19, 2026 meeting. The implementation grant application will proceed.
  • Transportation Improvement Plan: Staff will return with a prioritized sidewalk list, a code amendment for fee-in-lieu options for M1/M2 zones, and recommendations for a dedicated sidewalk funding source. Coordination with the school board will be initiated.
  • Recycling: The drop-off program will launch July 1, 2026. Staff will finalize locations and communications. Council requested enhanced outreach to ensure residents are informed.
  • No formal votes were taken during the work session; these actions will be presented at a future regular meeting.

Meeting Transcript

Mr. Marciano. Here. Ms. Dreyer. Here. Mr. Mansfield? Here. Mr. Musley. Here. Mr. Bathay. Here. Will you provide us with the public notice? Yes, the May twelfth, two thousand twenty-six City Council work session was publicly noticeed on Did I say May six? I mean the City Council work session, May twelfth, two thousand twenty-six was publicly noticed on May sixth, two thousand twenty-six on the City of Ocala's website. Thank you. Our topics of discussion today is uh for A is safe streets for all. Yes, sir. Safe Streets for All, and then we'll do our transportation improvement plan and recycling update. Um, let you know where we are, we have those times so that we have we can get this all done in an hour with questions. Um we will begin if you'd like. Yes, sir. Thank you. This builds upon, it's meant to build upon the O'Calamarian TPO's uh commitment to zero action plan, and but focus on the local streets within the city of Ocala. And there's really two purposes to this project. Uh, first is to develop a local road safety plan, including the development of a high injury network, and second is to develop a citywide speed management and traffic calming plan. As you probably remember, funding for the project was obtained through a safe streets and roads for all twenty twenty-three grant for planning and demonstration and supplemental planning activities. 80% of the funding was obtained through this grant, and the city provided the other 20% of the funds. There's six project tasks, including crash analysis, research and literature review. We had extensive public involvement, development of the local road safety plan, and the speed management and traffic calming plan. So this study analyzed crash data for the five years between 2020 and 2024. However, we did take a look at the fatal and severe injury crashes between 2014 to 2024. We were looking at the crash trends. And there was a spike in serious injury crashes in 2018. But there's been a decline since, so that's very good news. And then up in the upper right, looking at the age distribution of crashes, this is just 2024. Those age 65 and up are experiencing the most fatal and severe injury crashes within the city. In 2024, there were still 53 serious injuries and 19 fatalities. And then looking at the fatal and severe injury emphasis areas, we see that the City of Ocala intersections are the top emphasis area for fatal and severe injury crashes, followed by pedestrian and bicycle crashes, and then impaired driving. And then going beyond, we checked the 2025 and 2026 crashes to date just to see how we're doing. In 2025, there were still 53 serious injury crashes. 2026 so far, there are 11 serious injuries and four fatalities to date. So KSI crashes, those are crashes that result in someone being either killed or seriously injured. So from here I'm going to be calling that KSI. So looking at the KSI crashes within the city by crash type, left turns have the highest number of KSI crashes, followed by rear-end crashes. However, the highest number of fatal crashes is with the pedestrians. Looking at lighting condition, we had 54.6% of all fatal crashes and 42.1% of all KSI crashes occurred during non-daylight hours.

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