PCB studying Colony Club exit

PANAMA CITY BEACH — City staff is evaluating a different possible exit out of Colony Club that could cost less than one they had previously studied.

But they emphasize that the proposed project is only in the conceptual stage.

Residents say the current single exit on Fairway Boulevard onto Back Beach Road has become a death trap. On Sept. 30, a crash at the intersection killed Carolyn Smith, of Vernon, when she pulled her 2001 Ford Taurus into the path of a 1997 Ford F150 pickup truck driven by Janie Forthier, of Youngstown.

Police records also show a dozen accidents occurring in the area of the intersection over the last year.

Because traffic is often stacked up on Back Beach Road, drivers turning out of the community will often pull out first into the median, putting them in conflict with people turning into the Goodwill store and other drivers who are trying to turn into the community. Sometimes drivers in the median can’t see oncoming traffic on Back Beach Road because other cars stacked up next to them block the view. The entrance and exit also is used by Holiday Golf Club.

To address the issue, city staff had been evaluating the development of a possible east-west side road that would run parallel to Back Beach Road, linking Fairway Boulevard a couple of blocks eastward to Clara Avenue. If that road were built, Colony Club residents and golf club patrons could pull out onto Back Beach Road at the Clara Avenue traffic light.

But Panama City Beach City Manager Mario Gisbert said there is a potential problem with building the side street eastbound. It would create a busy road between the driving range and Holiday golf course and there could be business damages that would add to the project costs.

“I have had conversations with two of those (golf course) owners,” Gisbert recently told the City Council. ‘It would come with a substantial price.”

These costs would not be incurred if Fairway Boulevard — the main road going into Colony Club — were linked up to Nautilus Street, which also has a traffic light at Back Beach Road, Gisbert said Wednesday.

That connection would only require 1,200 feet of pavement, about half of what would have to be laid down for the Clara Avenue connector, Gisbert said.

“The land (for the Nautilus connector) is going to be less expensive land,” Gisbert said.

The St. Joe Co. owns the land that would be needed for it.

“This is very, very, very preliminary,” Gisbert said. “We’ve started conversations with St. Joe. We’ve started conversations with DOT. We’ve started conversations with Bay County. Right now, we are scratching the surface. Whenever you have a project that requires so many different entities there are a lot more conversations we’re going to have to have before we start spending real dollars.”

Gisbert said the Colony Club neighborhood would also have to buy into the idea of a Nautilus Street connector.

“Does the neighborhood like this location versus the other location?” he said. “Does the neighborhood want to take part of the financial burden on this? There are about five or six entities that are involved in that decision making. Which one is going to take the lead? Which one is going to spend all the money.”

Colony Club resident Phil Chester said he doesn’t know how the community would react to the connector road tying Fairway Boulevard and Nautilus Street. He said he suspects that road cost could be “astronomical” considering the wetlands it would have to be built over.

He said the connector road to Clara Avenue made more sense since there is already a two-lane road going by the golf course driving range that could simply be extended to Clara Avenue.

“I don’t know what the answer is,” he said. “All I know is something has to be done. Going behind the golf course looked like the most logical way to do it.”

John Alaghemand, assistant city manager and CRA manager for the city, said the connector to Nautilus Street would go through some wetlands, but that is a hurdle that could possibly be overcome if wetlands property elsewhere was donated.

“It would be required to have some mitigation,” he said. “We have to go through obviously the environmental DEP permitting process.”

He said The St. Joe Co. has indicated it would be a willing seller of the property for the Nautilus connector, Alaghemand said. Another benefit of this project to residents is they could walk along the connector to Nautilus Station at Nautilus Street and Back Beach Road, which has businesses such as a Carrabba’s restaurant, Beef ‘O’Brady’s and a UPS store.