PANAMA CITY BEACH — City Manager Mario Gisbert has recommended Colony Club residents help pay for a new exit out of their community if the project moves forward.
He said it could be a joint effort of government and the residents.
“One of the nice things with participation is it precludes people from just throwing up a wish list,” Gisbert told the council. “Because when there is a buy in, there is a little bit of thought. It isn’t just, ‘I want, I want, I want.’ I’m willing to spend a little bit — it means it really means something to them.”
Residents say the current single exit in and out of the subdivision has become a death trap, with cars turning in different directions as they stack up in the median at the intersection of Fairway Boulevard and Back Beach Road. 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, according to Panama City Beach Police.
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 to either Clara Avenue or Nautilus Street. If either one of those roads were built, Colony Club residents and golf club patrons could pull out onto Back Beach Road at traffic light.
Gisbert said if the two-lane road with sidewalks moves forward, he would recommend closing the median at Fairway Boulevard.
He said Bay County has a paving participation plan in which the county can fund 60 percent of a project’s costs and the residents pay the other 40 percent.
“It doesn’t preclude the county from utilizing some DOT funds, some grant funds, stormwater,” he said. “There are other different venues for them to get those funds.”
Colony Club resident Margaret True said she thinks the city should pay for the road, not the residents.
“I don’t agree with it as far as residents paying (for the road),” she said. “The city created this situation when they allowed the subdivision to be built, and then overbuilt, and they didn’t require more than one entrance and exit.”
Gisbert said the road going to Nautilus Street would cost half of what it would cost to go to Clara Avenue. Building a road to Clara Avenue would require 2,360 feet of property whereas the Nautilus Street route would only require 1,406 feet.
“There is the one residential lot (going to Nautilus),” Gisbert said. “It has some wetlands crossing.” He added that most of the property is owned by St. Joe Co. and is uplands.
“So it might not be that complicated,” he said. “It still requires coordinating with the St. Joe Co.”
Councilwoman Josie Strange said she thinks the exit should be the city’s responsibility.
“This place is unique in the fact that there is only one way in and one way out, and it wasn’t an issue 15 years ago, or 30 years ago, or 50 years ago when it was built,” Strange said. “It’s an issue now not only for (Colony Club residents), but people traveling east and west.”
Gisbert said he was planning on talking with St. Joe officials on Monday to discuss costs and other facts about building the road to Nautilus.
Gisbert said a workshop should be held at a later date to talk to Colony Club residents.
“Let’s face it, there might be a resident or two in here that may or may not like the idea,” he said. “Again, we’re talking ideas.”
Mayor Gayle Oberst said the city doesn’t have a procedure for communities to get this kind of a project, and she said she’d like for Gisbert to bring that back.
“And then give us a little bit more hard facts,” Oberst said.