OCALA, FL (352Today.com) – In the November 3, 2026, agenda for the Ocala City Council, a letter was attached to agenda item 10a under “General Business” from Robert Batsel Jr., who is a partner at the Ocala firm Gooding, Batsel, Hartley & MacKay, where he focuses on land use, zoning, and real estate development. He previously served as Ocala’s city attorney until late 2022; under Florida Bar Rule 4-1.11 and the Guidelines for Former City Attorneys that city council adopted in 2023, he remains restricted from representing private clients in matters in which he participated “personally and substantially” while working for the city unless council first gives its informed consent.

He wrote the October 15 letter to City of Ocala Manager Pete Lee precisely to request that consent. The letter asked council to authorize him to represent Flyover Ocala, LLC and R.C.P. Ocala, LLC in connection with a proposed rezoning inside the Heath Brook Development of Regional Impact (DRI). Public Information Officer for the City of Ocala, Greg Davis, confirmed that sending the request by letter to the city manager is the typical method these have been submitted.

On November 3, city council approved the request, clearing Batsel to represent the two companies as they seek to rezone roughly 109 to 120 acres east of the new Southwest 49th Avenue within the Mockingbird Ridge Planned Development. According to Batsel, the owners want to remove that eastern portion from the current residential planned development and rezone it as a commercial node serving the surrounding area. No formal rezoning application has been filed yet, Davis said. City staff and the current city attorney did not object, noting that while the firm’s earlier work on the Heath Brook DRI required consent, the representation itself does not raise concerns.

Speaking at the meeting, Batsel told council the request follows the same process the firm has used since the 2023 guidelines were adopted. “The core of what you need to know is that I cannot ethically use any information that I gained as your city attorney ever, for my private benefit or the benefit of my private clients,” he said. He described his own work on the Heath Brook DRI as limited to “a few minor matters,” while noting that his partner Jimmy Gooding handled much of the earlier representation on the DRI’s original approval, later challenges, and multiple amendments. “Nothing that I know, or… Nothing that we know in the course of our representation of the city really bears on this,” Batsel said.

Growth Management Director for the city of Ocala, Jeff Shrum, presented the item and said staff had spoken with the city attorney and had no objections. According to Davis, City of Ocala Attorney Will Sexton stated that, based on the information from Batsel and discussions with Growth Management staff, “the Gooding Batsel firm did need the consent of city council” to represent the two companies. Sexton added that, as with prior requests from the firm and “notwithstanding the firm’s ‘personal and substantial’ participation in matters related to the Heath Brook DRI when they represented the city,” he does not believe council’s decision creates cause for concern regarding their future efforts to rezone portions of the Mockingbird Ridge Planned Development.

The two LLCs, associated with principals Sheldon and Emily Rubin, own the eastern tract along Interstate 75. In his letter, Batsel said the clients anticipate modifying the planned development “to depart from the entitled residential use” and using the land as a commercial node that would serve surrounding residential development, potentially including an anchor grocery, retail, restaurants, offices, and employment uses. The western remainder of the larger Mockingbird Ridge tract is proceeding separately as a residential subdivision of roughly 493 homes under Boyd Development. Whether the commercial plan will ultimately require a formal amendment to the Heath Brook DRI itself, or only a standard planned-development change, remains unknown until an application is filed, Davis said. Council had already waived the one-year rezoning waiting period for the property on October 20. Davis also confirmed that the city has previously approved similar requests from Batsel or other former city attorneys under the 2023 guidelines, and that the November 3 vote authorized only the representation itself.