On Friday I attended a luncheon in Sandestin hosted by the Walton County Chamber. The guest speakers were Randy Curtis, the Executive Director of the Panama City Airport, and Wayne Stubbs, the executive Director of the Panama City Port Authority.
I was able to record it, albeit not a good recording, and it can be accessed by clicking here.
The presentation by Randy Curtis was really just a reiteration of the same news, not a lot of new information. Some explanation was provided as to why the West Bay area was selected. Due to air-flight restrictions from Tyndall and Eglin Airforce Base, and of course land availability, West Bay was the only feasible area for the new airport. In addition, Randy explained that they were on target for a ground breaking in March/April 2007. There was a large audience present and when the ground breaking date was mentioned the audience broke into applause. There was a question/answer section at the end of the presentation, and the feedback I heard was all positive.
The Panama City Port has been growing the last couple of years as the eastern-most port without going to Tampa. Our port has been identified as the most logical port for distribution in the southeast US and received 500,000 tons of copper last year. This totals in excess of $3.5 billion worth of product. They recently dredged the port from 32' to 36'. This may not seem much, but compare this to the Panama Canal at 38'. Our port receives 5 ships a week from the Yucatan, some of that being products from the Ikea plant in Mexico. In addition, a Swedish company has just agreed to use our port to export a minimum of 300,000 tons of compressed wood pellets every year for the next ten years. The post on this article can be found here.
"Is the National Resources Defense Council with their recently filed lawsuit really fighting for the best interests of NW Florida residents? Curiously, press releases and statements from the NRDC regarding the proposed new airport site fail to mention the mitigation property of 10,000 acres in West Bay donated by the St Joe Company. " (. . .more)
If anyone has more information or would like to share a comment, shoot me an email or post a comment.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
There has obviously been a lot of weight put on the coming of the new airport. With blind faith I trust that the city, county, state, federal officials are moving forward in a way that will best serve the area.
3 years ago I saw a documentary/special on PBS which discussed the St. Joe and the Jeb Bush interest in the airport becoming a reality. I see this no differently than many of the big steps forward for areas. Politics and big money get things done together. I saw this first hand in Dallas when DFW Airport was being conceived.
One thing worth noting, we all have the built-in tendency to want everything NOW. The airport and the port improvements don't happen overnight. Those willing to wait are rewarded.
-Kyle Dreier
Post a Comment