Sheriff Woods can ticket drivers inside Summercrest after county signs off

OCALA, FL (352today.com) – Marion County commissioners on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, approved a traffic enforcement agreement that gives the Marion County Sheriff’s Office the power to police the private roads inside Summercrest, a gated community in southeast Ocala.

The vote authorizes the commission chair and clerk to sign the deal among Sheriff William “Billy” Woods, the county, and Summercrest Homeowners Association Inc. County staff listed the item as budget-neutral.

According to the public information specialist for Marion County, Stacie Causey, the agreement “shall provide all law enforcement services normally provided.”

Causey also explained that the agreement activates once all parties have signed. Upon the signatures of the county commission chairman and the county clerk, the agreement is active.

Summercrest is a private neighborhood at 1321 SE 25th Loop. Florida law lets a homeowners association ask the sheriff to enforce traffic rules on roads it owns or controls. The association’s board made that request. Woods and HOA representative Michael Aguiar had already signed. The commission’s approval was the last county step.

Under the agreement, deputies will have jurisdiction to control traffic on Summercrest’s private roads just as they do in unincorporated Marion County. The sheriff alone decides whether a deputy is assigned there and on what schedule. The HOA has no say in staffing or how the laws are enforced.

If residents want extra patrols at specific times, the association can request off-duty deputies through the Sheriff’s Office Special Detail Program.

The contract begins when every signature is in place and lasts one year. It then renews each year automatically unless either side gives 30 days’ written notice.

The county attorney’s office reviewed the agreement in June and approved it as to form and legal sufficiency. A map attached to the agenda shows the neighborhood boundaries and the traffic signs already posted inside the gates along SE 25th Place Road.

At the Marion County Board of County Commissioners two weeks ago, the commissioners signed off on a similar deal between the sheriff’s office and another Ocala gated community, Saddle Oak Club.