Panning for Gold

Across the state – in the region everybody still calls by the name of a cooking-vessel part, but which economic developers would prefer you call "Florida's Great Northwest" – citizens and their leaders would love to see some Jacksonville-type action. Bit by bit, the mindset and the infrastructure are coming along to support that drive.
        "I view this part of the state at this point in time as having the best opportunity ever from a community perspective to close your eyes, dream about what it could be and create a path to achieve it," Gov. Bush told an economic development conference in Panama City in April. "There's no other place in Florida at this time that can do that."
        Leading the dreamers is the St. Joe Co., whose CEO Peter Rummell was just appointed by Gov. Bush in June 2003 to the Florida Board of Governors. The company owns about 1 million acres (404,700 hectares) in the region, a holdover from its heyday in the paper business. Now St. Joe wants to see the region boom through residential, commercial and light industrial development, which naturally will involve some portions of their property. Company officials were key in getting Nextel to locate a major call center in Panama City, for example. And they're the firing pin behind the West Bay Sector plan, which some call controversial and others call common sense.
        "Growth in that region is coming," Gov. Bush tells Site Selection. "The question before the community is whether it will be managed – balancing the dynamics of growth, development, business, community, and environmental needs."
        Hanging in the balance is a relocated Panama City/Bay County International Airport, which would be surrounded by many-faceted industrial and commercial development. The project is part of an overall sector plan that covers some 75,000 acres (30,353 hectares). As an analysis document from project leader Bechtel summarizes, "the Airport and Industrial District land use provides for the location of airport-related businesses and services on the airport site and allows 'through-the-fence' interaction between the adjacent Business Center and Regional Employment Center land uses."
        Many agree that something needs to be done, as the airport has stood in its original location since opening in 1934. The total projected cost for the relocation is a mere $210 million – a pittance due in large part to the St. Joe land donation, valued at some $12 million for the airport parcel alone, and costing less than estimates for different runway expansion scenarios at the existing facility. The comprehensive planning process is nearing the final stages of an exhaustive public hearing process, and calls for the federal government, State of Florida and local entities to contribute $70 million each.
        Runway extension plans have been in discussions since the 1970s, and a study was launched in 1995 to evaluate extending into the Bay itself. It was then that the relocation option was introduced.
        Subsequent feasibility studies were launched, and "moving won hands down," says Randall Curtis, the airport's executive director, saving in excess of $100 million. Site selection studies factored out military airspace and flooding zones, leaving about 10 sites to evaluate for aircraft approaches and other issues, and eventually arriving at the current proposed site. Even though there are still a few hurdles to leap, Curtis says developers from across the nation have already expressed interest in the old facility on the Bay.
        At the proposed new site, the land use allocations would include 4,000 acres (1,619 hectares) for the airport and industrial district, 2,070 acres (838 hectares) for a business center and 3,565 acres (1,443 hectares) designated as a regional employment center, which the Bechtel document says would provide sites for "large-scale industrial, manufacturing, educational and research campuses and office parks to provide 'landing zones' for businesses and industries relocating to Bay County." In keeping with Rummell's vision of land stewardship, more than 37,000 acres (14,974 hectares) would still be dedicated to conservation, while almost 7,700 acres (3,116 hectares) would be dedicated to agriculture and timberland uses.
        If the plan continues to follow its course, construction could begin as soon as mid-2005, with commissioning to occur in mid-2007.
        "A significant, enlarged airport amidst a growing population would be essential to attracting the kind of investment that will create higher-wage jobs," said Gov. Bush in April. "The higher-wage jobs need to sell their goods and services beyond this community." If it's not built, he says, "it makes it harder to make the Northwest Florida case."
        A lesser-known but no less promising Panama City development is its port, where Executive Director Wayne Stubbs is pushing new development that includes deepening of the harbor and berths to 36 feet and a new multi-bulk terminal.
        Unbeknownst to many, the Port's amenities go beyond a focus on linerboard and wood pulp, with its own designated Foreign Trade Zone of some 500 acres (202 hectares) dedicated to manufacturing and nearly half a million sq. ft. (46,450 sq. m.) of warehousing space. The Port is also involved in the nascent expansion of Bay Industrial Park, on some 619 inland acres (58 hectares) served by development partner Bayline Railroad. One manufacturer benefiting directly from this quiet port is Berg Steel Pipe, whose output measures over 400,000 tons annually. The facility has been aided by its location right at the water's edge, enabling direct loading onto ocean vessels.