The Destruction of a Miracle

As I approach the gate at the under-demolition Miracle Strip Amusement Park, I’m greeted by a rough-looking-shirtless dude with his underwear showing asking me what I wanted. “I just want to take some pictures for a local web site,” I said. He replied that he had to ask his boss. I didn’t mean to make much of a to-do about it.

Minutes later, amid steel tracks crunching and clanging across concrete, Mr. Dickens himself creeps my way. “Take a picture of my truck, or bring a 6 pack of beer,” he said, “I gotta get somethen outa the deal.” I’m not sure OSHA would like them drinking on the job. But does OSHA even care about a demo site anyway?

They let me in and I got some great shots.

As I made my way around the park, I strained to recollect the one time I had visited Miracle Strip several years ago. I don’t even remember who I went with, but coming from Dallas, TX, I was used to parks of much more grandeur than this. I remember not being impressed. But, that has nothing to do with the Miracle that was Miracle Strip. Tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands over the years grew memories here. Talking to my wife last night about my experience, she said she probably went there almost every day for summers (s as in plural). Locals and tourists alike enjoyed the park atmosphere for just shy of 30 years (or longer??).

“I own everything in this fence,” Mr. Dickens said, “from the moment I got this contract, I own everything here; I can do anything I want.” I asked about a banner that I found draped over some of the Red Barron planes. Greedily he replied, “I’m selling everything to make as much money as I can, nobody gave me nuthin, I work for all I got, and people come in here and steal MY stuff.” I was just asking about the banner, not thinking I was going to get a lecture. I told him it might be nice to hang in my garage, he said, “I have 80 acres to hang $#@% on.” Wow. Needless to say, I didn’t get the banner. Wasn’t sure if he was actually wanting to sell some of that stuff, or just keep it all himself for his 80 acres.

The day started off nasty and rainy, but by the time I got there, the sun was out, and it was hot. I made my way over to the Devil ride pondering our fascination with scary stuff. With attractions such as The Dungeon, The Abominable Snowman, The Devil Ride, The Haunted House (sorry I’m sure I’m getting all the names wrong) I got this creepy feeling and yearned for big fluffy bears and the Wiggles.

The whole place was sad, though. So much dilapidation, but a welcome change. The one ride I do remember with quite a bit of distinction was the tower that shot you 90 feet in thee air. I remember the exhilaration and fear crumpling up together in my stomach as I realized I could see all up and down Panama City Beach. That was the kind of ride that I was used to.

I know this place was home to many memories, but the tear down is long overdue. This place has been an eyesore for years, literally and it is time to move on. Talking to a member of the controlling company for the land I was told that no definite plans for the property have been defined. At one point, the property was to be a sprawling resort development, but the market won’t allow that right now. So, who knows, but at least vacant land is a better looker than old dilapidated buildings that attract vandals, homeless, and criminals.

I know we’ve talked about this already, but it’s definitely worth mention again.

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High Toxicity and Turbidity in Grand Lagoon: Remedy

With toxicity and turbidity levels higher than many feel comfortable with in Grand Lagoon, The Friends of Grand Lagoon are discussing the possibility of changing the water out about every 20 days. How to tackle this great task you ask? By bringing fresh gulf water into the most western portion of the lagoon at the rate of 50,000 gallons per minute.

Last night I attended a regular Friends of Grand Lagoon meeting with a guest presenter from the City of Destin. Discussion on the table began with a study presentation of the turbidity and toxicity levels in Grand Lagoon that resulted in the Ecotoxicologist (not even in my spell check library) presenting making the statement when asked, “I would probably choose not to eat my catch from that body of water.”

Many asked if there was any indication as to how much toxicity had come from the sewage spill that resulted from a City of Panama City Beach lift station failure early this year. The presenter had no answer but indicated that the spill could have had something to do with it. However, he stressed the main problem was that the more deep you move into the lagoon, the less likely it is that the water there has been cycled out with new water. Much of it is stagnant and as remarked by a waterfront resident to myself halfway through the evening, “my backyard is a cesspool.”

Well, it should come as no surprise that if we are having an issue with something in Panama City Beach, so might others be having (or had) the same issue. The City of Destin battled this very issue in years past (like more than a decade, although I was unclear how long exactly they had been doing this), and they found the solution to be quite effective. They had gone through some trials and a few errors, but the final result seems to work quite well, indeed.

The solution is to burry a huge pipe and run it under the road and developments, 1,000 feet into the Gulf of Mexico. The land-side of the pipe would be hooked up to a small building that housed electronic monitoring equipment and a 150 hp electric motor that would pump hundreds of thousands of gallons of water into the stagnant side of Grand Lagoon every hour. In Destin, they mostly run the pump at night, during low peak electric time to keep the system efficient and have worked up a system over the years to produce barely any noise at all. In fact, the presenter mentioned that they haven’t received a complaint on the noise in he-didn’t-know-how-long.

So, this is an awesome idea, but who pays for it? Nobody knew. Some talk about employing a grant-writer was tossed around, but then the question came up: who’s land is the facility housed on? The City’s? The County’s? Some willing or perhaps absent private citizen? It was remarked that to even talk to a grant-writer, they would need three times as much as what they have available in their checking account. Donations anyone?

Last night was talk about an issue that needed a solution. The solution seems apparent, but the means by which to get there is still very cloudy. This was actually the first meeting discussed about this particular project indicating that there will be plenty more, and also indicating that at this time, the pipe project is not much more than a pipe dream.

On a side note, no formal discussion was made of the new Grand Lagoon Bridge, but it was remarked to me at some point in the evening that the ground breaking would take place before the end of the month.

57 Reasons the New South Thomas Drive will Rock

The Front Beach Road CRA in Panama City Beach is set to change the face of the beach and reset the perception of all those that visit our beautiful area. Right now, driving up and down our main travel corridors is non-to-pleasing to the eye, what with the towering out of the ground utilities and lack of proper sidewalks and landscaping. BUT, that’s all in the process of change. Change is good, right?

Yesterday evening a community workshop was held at the CRA office to show off what’s in store for the next phase of the CRA (community redevelopment area), including South Thomas Drive, a section of Front Beach Road and the intersection of Front Beach Road, Middle Beach Road and North Thomas Drive.

Tip: You can learn more about the CRA, or you can read below for more details on this portion.

I’m going to warn you, what you are about to read will be long, but super rich with multimedia. Hopefully you’ll have a great idea as to what this portion of the cra will actually involve.

This roadways covered in this portion of the CRA form a loop, if you will around Laketown Wharf and a portion of the Signal Hill Golf course. The road runs right by Boardwalk Beach Resort, then passes by Pineapple Willies, through condo canyon (Laketown Wharf/Shores of Panama), goes right carrying you right past Wal-Mart and through the intersection just a little where Walgreen’s, Ripley’s and Backyard Burger rest. Included also is a little bit of the roadway called North Thomas Drive that would lead you down to the camp ground across from Club La Vela.

Here are the 57 Reasons the New South Thomas Drive will Rock

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Front Beach, Middle Beach, North Thomas Drive Intersection

This is the intersection described above that plays home to Ripley’s Believe it or Not!
They will completely redo the whole intersection, traffic lights and all
The new intersection will have an emphasis on pedestrian friendliness
- Currently it is difficult for peds to cross because of the wide road ways
- They will redo some of the existing pedestrian islands
- Also, an additional pedestrian island will be added by Backyard Burger
- Existing ped islands will be beautified
The famous dedicated right turn lane from west-bound Front Beach Road that turns onto Middle Beach will be done away with, median curb and all
- But, that lane will still be a turn only lane, just not dedicated
- Actually, they will ad an additional right turn lane making the total number of right turn lanes from Front Beach to Middle Beach TWO
Right smack dab in the middle of the intersection will be a huge decorative paver insignia of the Panama City Beach logo surely marketing the busiest intersection on Panama City Beach. Could Wal-mart have anything to do with that? hmmm
The right turn from North Thomas Drive onto Front Beach Road (by the Ripley’s museum) will be pulled back to make it a larger radius. You may have noticed their new sign and how it has recently moved back. They were getting it out of the way!
Pedestrian walkways will be very clearly marked
My favorite: all those ugly utility lines (power, phone and the like) will be moved UNDERGROUND!
Sidewalks will be installed
Cool street lamps will be installed
Lovely landscaping that will hopefully be taken good care of.

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The Circle K Intersection of Front Beach Road

This area covers the “curve” by Laketown Wharf and the entrance of Shores of Panama.
This area is well known for its traffic during peak seasons
Many in attendance were not happy with the plans as they did not seem to address the current problems
- I talked with the owner of Pineapple Willies who was telling me that teh traffic problems there greatly effect his business every year
- Many property owners there expressed their concern that during peak seasons it was very difficult for them to come and go from their residences
- Some of the suggestions included widening the turn so that there would be two dedicated turn lanes because all of the traffic is broken up to turn right or left at the Circle K
The plans include a dedicated Tram lane for the multi-model transportation device
- Many suggested to do away with this all together, but this route of the Tram service is integral in the Tram “looping” back to return to the west end of Panama City Beach
- The goal of the Tram is to get people to park their cars and ride mass transportation systems, this could work great, if done correctly.
- I think cars would be able to travel in this Tram lane, so they could use the Tram lane to turn right, right?
Of course, all utilities will be moved underground
Sidewalks will be installed
Landscaping will be installed
There will be clearly marked crossing areas with pedestrian medians
There will be periodic cut-outs for the Tram loading and unloading stops

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South Thomas Drive, North Thomas Drive Intersection

Located right by Alvin’s Island
They actually (they, as in The City of Panama City Beach) bought a huge chunk of land between Alvin’s Island and Signal Hill Golf Course
This land will be used to build a retention pond and a cut through roadway
The retention pond will be designed to be a beautiful amenity
- Sidewalks all around with sitting areas
- Landscaped and lighted
- It looks as thought there may be a little roadside parking for those that may want to enjoy
The roadway cut through will be charged with the goal of easing traffic into North Thomas Drive
- Intersection will be “signalized”
- Right now, the turn just sort of “juts” out, giving more bias to turning right then left, and is actually quite dangerous if you’re not paying attention.
- The new intersection will have pedestrian walkways clearly marked
- There will be a little right off-shoot to cover access still to boardwalk and thee other “local” businesses.
- This will alleviate some of the traffic pressure during peak seasons and times of high traffic *cough* little wayner
Alvin’s Island will actually be a little “island”

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Huge Retention Pond in Place of Old Homeless Camp

This retention pond will actually be behind McDonalds in front of the Wal-Mart parking lot (bet you were always wondering what was behind all those shrubs at the end of the Wal-Mart parking lot, weren’t you?)
Right now there is a fence along the McDonald’s parking lot
- I was told that this lot was the former site of a homeless camp, even though it is right in the middle of the action, it was actually well secluded. That is before the city came in and ruined the fun and cleared it all out.
- I was also told that McD’s is anxious for this as when it is build, they will tear down their fence and open it up for their customers to use
This retention pond will be quite large and will feature landscaping and sidewalks all around
A “viewing” platform will be built with seating areas so that people can enjoy the view of the retention pond
Lighting, landscaping and sidewalks all around (did I say that already?)
The public will have access to the amenity from both Middle Beach and Front Beach Roads

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Below are some high-resolution renderings of the different aspects of the project.

CRA Kick-off Party for South Thomas Drive Construction

Charged with literally changing the face of Panama City Beach, the CRA is on the move again. The next project on the table is the reconstruction of the South Thomas Drive corridor and tonight is the kick-off party for the public to come in and see what’s going to take place over the next 2 years or so.

The CRA, or community redevelopment area has swept through the area over the last few years completely changing the Churchwell Drive and R Jackson Blvd (formerly Beckrich) corridors with not only entirely new roads, but new infrastructures. These projects included moving utilities underground and adding beautification accents such as sidewalks, landscaping and street lights – something our area has been badly in need of for years.

Churchwell Drive is the road that travels in between Middle Beach and Front Beach Road that plays home to the Beach post office. Included in the project was a new bridge that required most of the budget and time, but the result was a beautiful 4 lane road with a center turn lane, sidewalks and these cool street lamps that make you want to walk everywhere just so you can look at them.

R Jackson Blvd, formerly known as Beckrich Road underwent an entire transformation expanding it from a two lane, heavily traversed, dangerous main corridor to a lovely, wide, beautiful road that enjoys pedestrians all the time. If you haven’t driven down it lately, you should. I experience that euphoria as often as possible, and sometimes even pull over just to walk it.

I remember the ground-breaking like it was yesterday, thinking to myself, “2 year? Man, that’s a long time for a road to be under construction.” But man, did the time fly. Fully opened in April of this year, it has serviced the area well and opened up a quick way to get from Back Beach to Front Beach Road.

Take a look at the progress over the last couple years:

———————————————————So, what’s happening tonight? There will be a public event that will explain to the public just what will be happening over the next 18 to 24 months in the South Thomas Drive area. The South Thomas Drive corridor is the area that is in between the Circle K (by Shores of Panama and Laketown Wharf) and Club La Vela. If you’ve traveled down that road, you know that it is a poor excuse for a patch of pavement, much less an actual road and is badly in need of a complete overhaul.

The new South Thomas Drive will include (I beleive) four lanes with a center turn lane, sidewalks, landscaping, those cool street lamps and all the utilities moved underground. This will be huge not only for the area but also for Panama City Beach as this is a heavily traveled area. The unfortunate part is having to endure the construction along the way; but there’s nothing we can do about that and it will be very much worth the trouble.

You can bet you can count on us to keep you all abreast of every new little detail that emerges with this in addition to construction update photos and the like. Stay tuned for an update about how tonight went.

By the way, the event is at the CRA office from 5 to 7 pm. The CRA office is located in the old St. Joe building next to the Nextel call center on R Jackson BLVD. Click here for a map.

Construction Contract Awarded for New Grand Lagoon Bridge

These are exciting times, exciting times indeed. I can remember just a few short years ago attending a meeting about the Grand Lagoon Bridge reconstruction and seeing the cool plans, dreaming of a time when larger boats and more traffic could traverse the area, knowing it was all just hopeful aspirations. The plans had been in the works for years, but funding for the project was a pipe-dream, until just recently.

As quoted from our previous post on the new Grand Lagoon Bridge:

“Currently, Bay County has $19,462,409 to fund this project with $5,629,822 from local stimulus funds, $9,299,990 from state stimulus funds and $4,532,597 from grants that Bay County has been working on for years. Based on the cost estimate, Bay County has all the money necessary to fund the entire project.”

As of today, the Bay County Commissioners have awarded the construction contract of the Grand Lagoon Bridge Replacement and Roadway Widening to C. W. Roberts Contracting, Inc for $14,833,745.75. In addition, the Bay County Commissioners awarded the Construction Engineering and Inspection (CEI) contract for the Grand Lagoon Bridge Replacement and Roadway Widening Project to Metric Engineering, Inc. for $1,389,992.00.

Construction has been planned to start soon after Labor Day, beginning with the construction of a temporary bridge and the demolition of the existing structure. You can bet I’ll be there.

Is Pier Park Killing Thomas Drive?

The answer to the aforementioned question is no, Pier Park is not killing Thomas drive, at least not in a definitive way like maybe how Rock-n-Roll killed Disco. But if you take a drive down Thomas drive and absorb the lack of traffic and innumerable “for lease” signs dressing business windows, you’ll know instantly that, although Pier Park isn’t killing the area, its influence is eye-opening.

It should be noted that the overall effect is difficult to quantify because Thomas Drive is a street, not a destination like Pier Park, so the draw is somewhat unrelated. Thomas Drive also has two identities sundered just past Grand Lagoon Bridge at the perpendicular intersection where Thomas goes East/West. At that point, a business driven, Navy Base inspired four-lane highway transforms into a quiet, scenic gulf front strip; two completely different socioeconomic streets. Pier Park’s continuing popularity has affected them differently.

Since Pier Park’s unveiling, North Thomas Drive, running from bridge to bridge, has seen a surge in development. Restaurants like Hooter’s, Sake House II and, locally acclaimed, Donut Island have been opened and flourished off Navy Base business. After speaking briefly with Debbie Johnson, one of the Donut Island’s owners, she said with confidence, “We’re doing great and growing.” Further down, staple restaurants like Captain Anderson’s and Treasure Ship have done well and so has the general area, evidenced by the opening of a small business like Sweet Racks and the groundbreaking of a franchise like Jasmine Thai restaurant. North Thomas has seen developments all over the place since Pier Park opened.

The other Thomas Drive has seen exactly the opposite; no new developments and lots, LOTS, of businesses closing down. The question remains, is Pier Park the culprit?

Kat Meeks, owner of Liza’s Kitchen, one of the businesses on that picturesque strip of Thomas Drive that has been able to thrive, quite well in fact, despite Pier Park’s success, had an interesting take on the matter. “I don’t think Pier Park is killing Thomas Drive as much as it’s just changing it. Yes, more people are staying on the west end, but that’s okay. Thomas Drive, I think, is just becoming the local’s end of the beach.”

Her take was that Pier Park’s greatest effect on Thomas Drive is accelerating its natural evolution, one that will weed out businesses that don’t fit the mold. “Panama City Beach has its own subculture, y’know?” She said. “While locals go to Pier Park as the one-stop-shop, here on Thomas Drive you have condo owners, families and locals that support businesses. Locals need some place to go too and Thomas Drive is becoming that place. It’s the local’s place and is locally driven.”

And a local haven may very well be Thomas Drive’s inevitable progressive destination. When locals, repeat tourists, eco-tourists and snowbirds want to get away from the generic areas, there is but one place for them to land and that’s Thomas Drive. One possible key to making this work is for businesses to embrace that role; to fashion themselves to cater to the locals, some tourists and flourish during the off-season. The question is how to do that.

“We’ve been able to do more creative things and think outside the box.” Kat Meeks answered when asked how other businesses can compete. “You can’t just wait for people to come to your door. We have a lot of locals in this area that are looking for some place to go. We do everything we can to make sure they know we’re here.”

Strangely, what may affect Thomas Drive more than Pier Park could be the Grand Lagoon Bridge construction. “I’m nervous about it.” Kat said. “It has two sides. Once it’d done its going to be great, but the construction phase will be tough.”

It remains to be seen how quickly Thomas Drive will get over the Pier Park effect. One thing is for sure, it will be up to the locals and businesses to reaquaint themselves if Thomas Drive is ever to return to it’s beloved status.

Demolition by Sunbird Condos in Panama City Beach – teaser

[updated 11:51am 8/18/09]

On Friday I received several emails from people in and around the Sunbird Condo area in East Panama City Beach. With the backdrop of Condo Canyon (Shores of Panama and Laketown Wharf) demolition crews had been working for days to clear just over 1.5 acres right on the sunny Gulf of Mexico. “This place had been in total disrepair for a while now,” said one local property owner that often visits her townhome right down the street.

There are 6 lots on the water totaling around 240 beach footage with 12 lots lined up directly behind the beach-front lots along the same plat lines, 18 lots total. The labeled property usage per the Bay County Property Appraiser’s office is Hotels/Motels, and the record shows the entire piece of land was purchased in April 2004 for $7.5 million. It would appear that the land was foreclosed upon as there is a deed recorded with the Bay County Clerk of the Courts in late 2008.

My first assumption was that this was a Faircloth property that was sold at auction last year in which the new buyer was clearing out the land to build or sell, but the Florida Division of Corporations name search revealed that the old owners were out of Destin and the new owners are actually a bank. New South Federal Savings Bank out of Birmingham, Alabama too possession in October of last year I assume because the previous owners weren’t paying their fat mortgage any more.

Many have asked whether a condo was going in there, but I would assume that the bank is just clearing the land preparing for sale. From the looks of the properties that had not been torn down yet, I would assume that these were not inhabitable homes and that the city was requiring the demolition in an effort to keep our area clean and reduce incident rates from homeless people. Typically banks are not in the development business, so I would assume that they are preparing to sell.

I have a call into New South’s acquisition lawyer with no return call yet and a call into the local PCB planning department. I’ll keep you all updated.

Updated!

I just received this from Mel Leonard with the panama city beach planning department:

“No one has submitted any development plans for those lots as of this time. However, New South Federal Savings Bank did answer the City’s advertisement to purchase gulf front property in an effort to create a public park. We also have a proposal from Peek’s Motel. A few weeks ago the City Council asked staff to run public notices to see if any gulf front property owners wanted to sell their property to the City for purposes of constructing a public park with showers and restrooms. So far, we have the two proposals one of which is for those properties on Beach Blvd. The deadline for proposals is Thursday, August 27, at 2pm. At some point thereafter, the Council will discuss whether to pursue any of those properties or abandoned the idea. Let me know if you need anything else.”

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The Madness That Is Krystal Burger: A Personal Experience

There are times when a very little story can suddenly become big news. Case in point, the newly opened Krystal Burger on Hutchison Blvd: where so many cars and people gravitated you’d think they were giving away burgers for free or someone glimpsed the Virgin Mary in a chilli cheese pup.

While you may not be a fan of the tiny, tasty burgers, it has become apparent that a lot of people are. In my lifetime, I’ve never witnessed the type of spectacle I saw at Krystals. First of all, it was nearly impossible to get into the parking lot as traffic on Hutchison trying to turn in was backed up severely. Once I got into the place, I noticed one uniformed police officer managing traffic and I thought, “at the height of the tourist season you’re managing drive thru traffic at Krystal burger?” It was then that I realized he was not the only badge-wearing fellow on drive-thru detail; there were in fact four, yes four, fully-armed police officers monitoring traffic at Krystals. Stunned, was I.

After I passed the first officer, I saw that the drive-thru itself was very strange, split in two by orange cones, a route reminiscent of a line at the Disney World Magic Mountain, as it wrapped around the building twice, whipping 360 degrees just to get to that all important intercom order stop. The process proved surprisingly quick and I made the first turn, then the second, the third and reached the intercom feeling a bit like a nascar racer. I was greeted by a woman at the intercom. I told the lady I wanted 4 of those savory burgers. Her voice, delightful in a rather raucous scene, told me my total and said, “it’ll be my pleasure to serve you at the first window.” When I drove up to that first window and it slid opened, half a dozen workers in light blue shirts, still obviously new to the system, tried hurriedly to get my order out. The whole process took about twenty-minutes–twenty minutes worth of armed guards, high-traffic and an amusement park drive-thru all for a soft, flavorful bite of a burger many have ached to finally get their hands on. And as you are reading this, you are probably asking yourself, “was it at least worth it?”

The answer is a simple, contented, muffled-by-a-mouth-full-of-burger, “definitely.”

New Library Ahead of Schedule

Panama City Beach has been itching to get into its new, state of the art library and the wait may be shorter than expected.

If you’ve ventured down Hutchison Blvd. you’ve noticed that in a short period of time, the entire frame of the building is erect, giving gawkers the full scope of what the new facility will look like. And that’s not all. Already the plumbing and sewage are in place and the groundwork for the electrical is ready as well.

Groundbreaking on the new library was in April with a completion date set tentatively for February 2010. At this pace, however, that date could be moved up. In fact, Charles Lewis, Director of Construction Operations at the Construct Two Group called that tentative date “more than enough time.”

On Tuesday plans to set the walls are in place. After speaking with an onsite worker, I learned that the once the walls are up the process will accelerate making the date even sooner still. For those who are excited about the new library, you can start practicing your library card picture poses.

Our Beach Erosion – 12 Answers to the Latest Project

As part of keeping our beaches the way they are, large and wide, the Tourist Development Council is making an investment that will help sustain the millions in beach renourishment spent in years past and help beautify our white sand. A huge aid in keeping the sand in place is vegetation and Lisa Armbruster with the Beach Renourishment efforts has a plan to plant our beach with fresh vegetation, and she’s starting this fall.

Q. How much of the beach will receive new vegetation?
A. Nearly all of the beach from Pinnacle Port to St. Andrews State Park (but not including the park) has vegetation proposed. Areas that do not have vegetation proposed are those areas undergoing apparent redevelopment, although if those property owners wish to have vegetation installed, they will be included.

Q. Approximately how many plants will be planted?
A. Approximately 1.5-1.7 million plants.

Q. Will there be plants other than sea oats planted?
A. The bid documents define that 70% of the vegetation will be sea oats, and 15% will be dune panic grass; the other three species suggested are beach elder (5%), sea purslane (5%), and beach morning glory (5%) – although, notably, the bid documents offer that the bidder may propose a substitute for one of the three smaller quantity plants.

Q. What is the expected cost of the entire project?
A. The cost estimate (and I stress estimate) is $1.5 to 2.0 million.

Q. Where will the funds for the project be appropriated from?
A. The funding will come from the Third Cent bed tax (dedicated beach nourishment fund). We also have a state match already secured in a grant, so approximately 28.5% will be paid by the state.

Q. What is the objective, meaning, are there areas that have historical erosion points that this will prevent or reduce the erosion?
A. The planting project will enhance the existing dune system, and in some areas, lack of existing dune system, and over time should help build up dunes along the landward portions of the Panama City Beach beaches; this serves as additional protection from storms to upland structures and infrastructure and complements the beach nourishment activities completed for the beaches.

Q. When will bids go out for the project?
A. End of July or early August.

Q. Who is expecting to bid, meaning, landscape architects? contractors?
A. The bidders should be capable of handling the work/size of the project.

Q. When is actual work expected to begin?
A. Until we get the bids in, including their proposed schedules, we can’t say for sure. It is expected to start by winter of this year and be complete by early spring.

Q. How long will the work take place?
A. Again, until we see proposed schedules, we don’t know. At this point, the bid documents give the bidder 165 days to complete the work from the time the contract is awarded. A portion of this time will likely be devoted to growing the plants, so folks wouldn’t see work being done on the beach, although the project would be moving forward.

Q. Will there be anything in place to keep beach goers off the new plants?
A. The project includes post and rope fencing along the seaward edge of the planting for the entire length of the project, and includes perpendicular post and rope fencing through the approximately 100 public accesses on the beach. Also, signs will be placed within the planting areas indicating that folks should keep out of the vegetation. This post and rope fencing also speaks a little to your question below regarding aesthetics.

Q. Will the plants be planted in a pattern to help be aesthetically pleasing?
A. The planting pattern has been designed by our coastal engineering firm, Coastal Planning & Engineering, based on the existing topography of the beach; the planting should blend in nicely with the existing beach and vegetation.