Oil Boom Pass Project Removal Starts Wednesday

As reported from the Bay County Public Information Office:

Crews will begin removing the boom in the St. Andrew Pass on Wednesday morning, after state Department of Environmental Protection Agency officials determined the state would fund the effort.

“The chance of any surface oil making it here is almost zero,” Bay County Emergency Services Chief Mark Bowen said, highlighting that the purpose of the boom was always to fend off surface oil threatening the bay — it would have been ineffective against subsurface oil or tarballs. “Surface oil arriving here would be unthinkable at this point. The imposition of the pass project to shipping traffic and recreational boaters far outweighs the minimal risk of any surface oil.”

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5 Ideas for Your Labor Day at the Beach

After a dismal summer tourism season from the BP oil spill disaster, tourism officials are very optimistic for this Labor Day weekend to end the summer season with a bang. Many local resorts are reporting full occupancy this weekend and with great weather projected for all three days of this extended weekend, locals and tourists alike are sure to have a blast.

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New City Park on the Beach in the Works

At a recent Panama City Beach City Council meeting, it was decided to move forward with figuring out how to obtain some Gulf-front property and build a city owned and maintained park. This a much wanted city amenity and the city of Panama City Beach wants to take advantage of a down real estate market to snatch up some land at a good deal, if they can secure a grant to do so.

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Famous People Join Hands in Support of Gulf

We thought this was pretty cool and wanted to share.

Seacrest Wolf Preserve provides safe haven for displaced gray wolves

Preserve dispels myths, educates the public on this fascinating carnivore

Mystic, a British Columbian alpha female wolf. Lori Ceier/Walton Outdoors

Cynthia Watkins, owner of the Seacrest Wolf Preserve has been fond of animals as long as she can remember. A show breeder of Siberian Huskies early on in her career, she became interested in the conservation of wolves in the 1980s. In 1995, Cynthia became involved with the Yellowstone National Park Wolf Reintroduction Program where she experienced her first physical contact with a wolf.

“The experience stoked the fire of conservation in my heart,” Cynthia said beaming with enthusiasm for the animals.

What started off as a small conservation effort in 1999, Cynthia and her husband Wayne now care for 25 pure gray wolves along with several other animals at their preserve.

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LIVE – City Pier's done, Now County Pier's Under Construction!

The projected construction timeline for the new County Pier located just west of Alf Coleman Road is around 16 months, barring no unexpected obstacles present themselves. The design is exactly the same as the new Russell-Fields pier located right across from Pier Park. Alf Coleman Road is the road the Shipwreck Island Waterpark is on, and it runs almost directly into Sterling Reef Condominiums on the Gulf of Mexico.

Construction began in March of this year with the concrete ramp that leads up to the portion of the pier that extends out into the water already complete. The next milestone is expected in October when they should have the “mid”-section complete by.

The totall cost of this pier will be $7.6 million with FEMA picking up $3 million of the tab. Completion is expected to be June of 2010.

15 Things to Know About the Development of the Old Airport Site

Leucadia National Corporation/CAR/SABLC: Leucadia National Corporation is the parent company of Community Airport Redevelopment, which was changed to the St. Andrew Bay Land Company. Leucadia has home offices in Salt Lake City, UT and New York City. Labeled as a “mini Berkshire Hathaway” as noted in their Wiki page, Leudadia was a $6.6 billion company in 2006 generating revenue in a variety of ways including mining & drilling services, telecommunications, health-care services, manufacturing, banking and lending, real estate, and winery businesses. Other notable developments by Leucadia include Rosemary Beach and Draper Lake.

The community will be walkable: With 703 acres, the property consists of a little more than a square mile. From the center, it would take approximately 10 minutes to walk to the edge of the property, and from one end to another a walk would take around 10 minutes; unless you’re a speed walker, in which it would take about 8.3 minutes. Although little design conceptuals have been made, it is anticipated that it will be an open community that is very ped-friendly.

3,200 total residential units: The development has the capacity to hold 3,200 residential units with an expected spread of approximately 60% single family and 40% multi-family (including condos and townhomes). Development time-tables will be completely subject to market demand and the expected build-out time is in upwards of 15 years.

Wide open community areas: Some of the discussions the other day included creating an area that Panama City could collect for events and holidays and enjoy company and the water. Right now, Panama City has no area like Pier Park to hold these community events. I believe Panama City could greatly benefit from this. If they were to bring in the right marketing team and layout the initial public development right, they could create a community before there’s actually a community there. Talk about buzz.

Multiple points of access: Feeding into the community are 8 points of access varying the ways with which to handle the out-flow and in-flow of the increased traffic. Access roads include Frankford, Airport Road, Lisenby, Airport Circle, Baldwin, W 39th Street, and Jackson Way.

700,000 square foot of commercial/retail: Some mixed among the residential, others in concentrated areas, there will be approximately 700,000 square feet of commercial and retail area. Right now, there are plans to have a “Town Center” in the middle of the community that will house the tallest of the structures, in addition to a higher concentration of retail. There will be a small lake with a boardwalk around it and the buildings will have retail on the first floors, office space on the second floors with residential above that.

Height limitations set at 120 feet: I was told that even though maximum height is set for 120 feet as defined by the zoning (light industrial), the maximum planned height at this time is 80 feet. In addition, the maximum height buildings will be in the center of the development, reserving the water-frontage for 2 and 3 stories.

Nothing available to purchase until 2012: The St. Andrew Bay Land Company will take possession of the land the day after the airport operations are moved to the new airport site. Upon possession, it is estimated that infrastructure installation will take approximately 1 year with real estate product available to purchase last 2011 or early 2012. The SABLC may build some, but it is expected that they will sell plats to developers to handle build out once infrastructure is in place.

Tons of green space: All the green areas depicted in the images will be open park-like areas that may have open grassy areas, trees, nature trails and the like. The idea, again, is to create a pedestrian-friendly community that encourages the natural beauty of the Bay County area.

No water-front buildings: There will be plenty of water views to be had from residential units, but nothing will be right on the water, cutting off access from the general public. The design is intended to keep the pristine areas pristine, and enjoyable by everyone. There will be large open areas in between the buildings and the water.

All open to the public: The whole community will be open to the public. Amenities such as shopping, dining and the marina will be open for everyone to enjoy and the community will not be gated.

150 boat marina: Quenching the thirst for much needed wet slip space, this new community will house a 150 slip marina capable of accommodating vessels up to 60 feet. The marina depth will be 6 feet. There is only one small spot on the whole plot of waterfrontage that will accept a marina without having a negative environmental impact; located at the top, close to where the runway terminates into the bay right now.

Marina to be developed first: Right now, talks include developing the marina first, in addition to around 10 shops and restaurants with some residential above around the marina. The idea is to give something to the community that is usable right now (or in a couple years) until the demand for real estate product comes back. The conversations I had were very interesting in that for once, I was talking to a developer that wasn’t acting like a developer, but a rational, reasonable person. With my background in preconstruction sales and marketing I have quite a bit of experience working with developers and new developments, and it always seems like they are drinking their own cool-aid; not so with these guys. They were very much verbal about the current conditions of the market and were very open with the fact that at this time its hard to tell where the market will be in two years. This, by the way, is exactly opposite the outlook of most of the developers I’d worked with in the past. typically with a new development such as this, you’d expect to hear aggressive development time-lines. I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed with their level-headed outlook.

The developmental options are plenty: They’ve kept the initial planned layout open so as to offer a wide variety of developmental options. With plats around 500 by 260 feet, it will be easy to determine where single family versus multi family will go in the future, based on market demand. The plats are large enough to accommodate an alley system, should they decide to go that route.

Sasaki Associates brought in to help with initial planning: Sasaki and Associates are known for their master planning of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Ruston Town Center in Virginia, The Woodlands in Houston TX, Charleston South Carolina Waterfront Park, and Harbor Town in Hilton Head, just to name a few.

Bay County Commission Passes 5th Cent

With the likeness of a modern game or reality show, the suspense was lingering and drawn out. Chairman Girvin surely is a student of this dramaticism. The presentation from Dan Rowe, Executive Director of the Bay County Tourist Development Council (TDC) and President of the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) was short and not even necessarily sweet. It was almost as though he was there only because he needed to be. Not that Rowe was unwilling, but it seemed apparent that this was all part of a strategy.

Last month the Bay County Commission passed with a majority vote to increase the bed tax collected from 3 cents to 4 cents. In order to pass the 5th cent increase, a super majority vote was required, that is to say that 4 of the 5 commissioners had to vote in approval. The lack of the super majority support on the 4th cent influenced Commissioner Mike Thomas to request that voting on the 5th be tabled until the regularly scheduled meeting that was held today so that his fellow commissioners could further educate themselves on the ramifications of this decision.

Out of the six that spoke up about the bed tax increase during the public comment section, 4 spoke in opposition of the increase and 2 spoke in approval. Among the two one worked for St. Joe, and the other was Chairman Tannehill of the Airport Authority. Tannehill mentioned that we cannot overlook this opportunity to help Bay County grow. “Everybody asked for it, we’re giving it to them, we need to be sure it’s gonna work,” he continued.

After Chairman Tannehill spoke, Chairman Girvin asked if anyone else had any comments. “This room is full of people that have concern either for or against this issue, I can’t beleive that nobody has anything else to say about it,” he said.

There were three motions total, with the first two from Commissioner Mike Thomas, which ultimately failed to carry. The first motion was to allow the increase to pass with no restrictions, the second was to limit the bed tax to 5 years (the same as the resolution), but to allow the TDC to spend it as they see fit.

The third motion was made by Commissioner and TDC Board Member Mike Nelson. Discussion led everyone down the road that resulted in some flexible conversation on the part of Chairman Girvin. He seemed to be making suggestions as to what he could agree with. Commissioner Bill Dozier at one point asked Chairman Girvin “I can’t be comfortable with the motion until you are comfortable with it, are you comfortable with it?” Girvin: “Well, I don’t know!” I had to chuckle as at this point, it seemed as though he was being purposefully suspenseful.

Commissioner Nelson’s initial motion was unclear and after many minutes of conversation it was restructured to adopt the Resolution that the TDC approved yesterday and to approve the increase.

With no discussion left, Chairman Girvin ordered the roll called. Going through the ranks, Thomas-yes, Dozier-yes, Gainer-no, Nelson-yes, Girvin- “Before I vote, I would like to make a comment. No matter which way I go on this, someone will be upset. I have great respect for many of the people on both sides of this issue,” he said. “However I have to make the decision that is best for Bay County, as these are perilous times for us, and we need all the help we can get. On one of the sides, not everyone has been completely honest with me. I think we would be in err if we didn’t at least give it a try for five years, and with that said, I vote YES.”

When his vote came through after a suspenseful comment, you could hear the crowd sigh and almost burst into applause. Tourism industry leaders could be seen with ear to ear grins as a seeming victory had been won, as if this was some sort of battle. I’ve not always agreed in the past with the way the TDC has spent money, and I’m sure I won’t always agree with them in the future, but I think this was a good move and an innovative way to move forward.

Having said that, I just want to be clear on how this money will be spent, as there seemed to be some confusion at the meeting that these funds could be used to directly subsidise an airline – and I don’t think this is the case, as it was explained yesterday (someone, please chime in if I am incorrect).

This 5th cent will be used for advertising, in a cooperative relationship with an airline(s) that may have an interest in flying into our new airport. For example: a string of advertisements in Chicago that would advertise special rates with X airline on trips to Panama City Beach, FL. This would give incentive to the airline that their flights here would be well occupied and increase the number of people exposed to our beautiful area.

Good form Commissioners and Board members, good form!

TDC Approves Resolution for 5th Cent Bed Tax Use

In what was quite possibly the quickest TDC meeting that I’ve ever attended, the Panama City Beach Tourist Development Council unanimously (with the exception of Buddy Wilkes – who is out of the country) approved the adopted resolution to the use of the 5th cent of the bed tax. The tax increase is up for vote by the Bay County Commissioners tomorrow morning.

Florida statute mandates that TDC money levied through bed tax collections cannot be used “seat-guarantees”, but can be used for marketing purposes. Spefically with the application proposed, the money will be used for cooperative advertising with the low cost airlines targeting potential visitors to our area that would use the low cost carrier(s) that would fly into our new airport. If the increase in approved tomorrow this will allow 15 months of time to market to future potential feeder markets and hopefully give a low-cost carrier additional incentive and comfort in coming to the new Panama City Bay County International Airport.

Bay County Commissioner Mike Nelson, who is also a member of the Tourist Development Council said that he thought this would be much more acceptable to the County Commission.

One of the stipulations to the resolution is that at the end of 5 years, the TDC would need to come back to the County Commission to vote on the 5th cent again, otherwise, it would expire.

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