Spring Break under fire at TDC meeting // DOCUMENT

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Spring Break was not on the agenda at Tuesday’s Bay County Tourist Development Council meeting, but the hot-button issue still took center stage. 

 In the first public meeting after Fox News aired a report “uncovering” the chaos of Spring Break in Panama City Beach, officials once again began discussions on how to curb it after hearing concerns from several local residents and business owners.

While the issues are nothing new for the area, TDC Chairman Buddy Wilkes said the report sparked new desire for increased regulations targeting Spring Break and tasked law enforcement officials with developing proposals to bring back to the city and county.

Wilkes said that in the past Spring Break problems have yielded little more than roundtable discussions, but made it clear to Sheriff Frank McKeithen and Panama City Beach Police Chief Drew Whitman that this year would be about making changes.

“They haven’t ironed out all those pieces yet, but they’re coming,” Wilkes said. “They’re coming in the way of ordinances they’re going to take to the city and the county.”

In a letter to Panama City Beach City Manager Mario Gisbert, McKeithen outlined initiatives he said “would work to deter a lot of the undesirable behavior,” including outlawing alcohol on the beaches and cutting off alcohol service at 2 a.m. or earlier at beach businesses during college Spring Break.

READ McKEITHEN's LETTER

City and county officials plan to meet with law enforcement officials next week to further discuss proposals.

Local attorney Wes Pittman said he was encouraged by Wilkes’ comments, but urged the board avoid kicking the can down the road.

 “Where I’m a little bit discouraged is that this probably has been brewing for a very long time,” Pittman said. “It should come as no surprise to anybody that’s here … so somebody somewhere has been remiss in doing something about it.”

During the meeting, TDC members reminded the audience that actions regarding changes in regulations are not a function of the agency. The TDC instead functions as an agency responsible for marketing the beach as a tourist destination.  This year, Wilkes said the TDC spent $100,000, or about 1.4 percent of its marketing budget on Spring Break. The agency also spent $200,000 in support of law enforcement efforts.

Beach business owner Wayne Lindsey said the community needs to quit turning a blind eye to Spring Break.

“We’ve grown accustomed to this, and we’ve grown callous to it,” Lindsey said. “It’s just part of the life here and I honestly believe that we’re better than this.”

Lindsey suggested taking a long-term look at what the beach could do to replace the economic boost Spring Break brings.

TDC member and Bay County Commissioner Mike Thomas said he did not think new regulations would solve all of the problems.

“We have some very irresponsible vendors on this beach,” Thomas said. “We’ve got problems and whatever rules we’re going to pass here is not going to make a difference in my opinion.” 

Panama City Beach Mayor Gayle Oberst said the city manager has been working with some of the businesses, but it’s ultimately the business owner’s decision on who to advertise to.

“There are some things we can do, but we don’t want to be running the businesses,” said Oberst, who added that many of the issues have stemmed from a change in the younger generation. “The world has changed so the spring breakers have changed … you can’t legislate morality.”