New PCB road would bypass congested area

Aug. 29--PANAMA CITY BEACH -- The Panama City Beach City Council on Thursday approved moving forward on construction of a new two-lane road that would allow drivers to avoid one of the most congested sections of Back Beach Road.

Under the concept, which was approved in a 4-1 vote with Commissioner Keith Curry dissenting, the city would fund the $2.6 million to develop a two-lane "Pier Park Loop Road," and the property owner, the St. Joe Co., would convey land for it and provide engineering work and mitigation services.

The Pier Park Loop Road would curve for about a 1.5-mile stretch in a northwesterly direction from the end of North Pier Park Drive up to State 79.

North Pier Park Drive extends from Back Beach Road (U.S. 98) and dead ends just north of Palmetto Trace's western entrance. When completed, the new road extension would allow drivers leaving Pier Park to drive to State 79 without traveling the congested segment of Back Beach Road.

City Manager Mario Gisbert said this is the first approval for the road.

"It gives me the go ahead to move forward with" an agreement, he said, adding that at the next meeting a formal resolution for the road project would be brought forth.

During the meeting, Curry said the road would have a tremendous benefit to opening up land for development for the St. Joe Co., but he questioned how it would benefit traffic flow for beach residents.

"I'm trying to see the tremendous benefits for the residents for spending $2.6 million," he said. "I'd like to see the traffic studies."

The 150-foot swath would be enough land to four-lane the road in the future.

Councilman John Reichard, who expressed strong support for the road, said he had one concern about the wording in a proposed agreement with the St. Joe Co. that stated the company would have to approve of any future plan to four-lane the road, which would end up being a city road.

But Jorge Gonzalez, senior vice president of development for St. Joe, said the company would not be interested in stopping the road from being four-laned in the future if the city wanted to proceed. He said the road will benefit the company, but it could have built shorter and less expensive roadways to connect to their developments.

The funds have been set aside for the project next year and construction could begin in the middle of next year, Gisbert said after the meeting.

"This would help relieve traffic for the locals, for the tourists, for the people who work in Bay County who live on the west end of the beach, so everyone would receive a benefit from this," he said.

He said if the city had to purchase the land for the roadway, which could cost $6 million, the project would never have been considered.

One of the funding sources will be impact fees paid out for the North Pier Park development, Gisbert said.

There could be a secondary major benefit to the new loop road.

A portion of the new road would be built over the dirt Power Line Road, and the paving of that could prod the state to move ahead with an expansion of the road -- informally called Back Back Beach Road -- that the Florida Department of Transportation supports; it is expected in the future to be an alternative east-west corridor to Back Beach Road, Gisbert said.

Other action

In other action, the council:

- Approved on final reading an ordinance that removes some provisions from a previous one regulating scooter rental businesses. The ordinance removes a requirement that scooters have safety flags on the back of them, and riders would only be required to wear safety vests along city roads. The council listened to several scooter shop owners plead with them not to enforce another ordinance that already has passed that would have required them to carry insurance starting Thursday to pay for damages if a scooter rider hits someone or their property. The council didn't change that requirement, but Mayor Gayle Oberst told the owners the police department wouldn't be aggressively enforcing this for another month.

- Approved a resolution accepting donations from an unnamed civic organization that is donating $27,690 to the city to pay for three K-9 dogs that will be here in time for next Spring Break. The funds also will pay for training the dogs.

- Approved on first reading a 1 percent increase in water and 2 percent increase in sewer rates. Even with the increase, Panama City Beach's rate is the lowest of all of the public water systems in Bay County. A combined sewer and water rate in Panama City Beach could go to $52.47 for 6,000 gallons if it's approved on second reading. By comparison, Bay County customers pay $110.02 for the same water and sewer usage. Oberst explained the city has decided to approve of small increases based on what Bay County charges for wholesale water instead of waiting for years to increase the rates and then have to drastically increase them.

- Approved on final reading an ordinance that bans trash cans on Front Beach Road from being seen from the public right of way, which will require someone to take cans that have been emptied and immediately put them out of sight.

- Approved on second and final reading an ordinance designed to make it easier to prosecute "aggressive" peddling and panhandling. It would not prohibit minors such as Girl Scouts from selling cookies door to door, but it would ban solicitation, among many other examples, on roadway corners, public parks and outside places where people are waiting in line.

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