Chamber workshop focuses on economic growth

PANAMA CITY — The need for economic diversification and collaboration were major themes at a workshop Wednesday that brought together several community leaders to lead a discussion about growth in Bay County.

The event, hosted by the Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce, welcomed a diverse panel of speakers including Bay County Economic Development Alliance Director Neal Wade, Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport Director Parker McClellan, Panama City Port Director Wayne Stubbs, St. Joe Company Senior Vice President Jorge Gonzalez and Pamela Kidwell, the executive director of the Business Innovation Center.

Following an EDA meeting earlier Wednesday morning, Wade kicked off the workshop by defining economic development and the challenges surrounding it in Bay County.

“I believe that economic development is the process of creating wealth,” said Wade, adding that Florida requires companies to pay at least 150 percent of an area’s average salary to qualify for incentives. “That means we’re going after quality jobs — jobs that are going to raise the living standards throughout the whole county.”

In addition to challenges in workforce development, Wade said that while Florida and Bay County have made strides in economic development over the last few years, many industry leaders still view the area as primarily driven by tourism.

“One of the goals we’ve had here in Bay County ... we need a diverse economy,” he said. “We need tourism to remain strong, but we need to have these other sectors strong as well.”

Gonzalez, who also served as the guest speaker during the EDA meeting, presented the St. Joe Co.’s vision for economic diversification over the next several decades.

Gonzalez provided an overview of the company’s Bay-Walton Sector Plan, a 50-year vision for a roughly 110,000-acre area in Bay and Walton counties, the crux of which balances on developing several “active adult” retirement communities, anchored by smaller commercial town center areas.

“In Bay County, the economy has been traditionally driven by two industries, tourism and the military,” said Gonzalez, adding that the retirement community concept could be “the third leg of the economic stool.”

St. Joe submitted the sector plan to Bay and Walton counties in April and officials are in the process of vetting the 600-page application. While the proposal is essentially an expansion of the 75,000-acre West Bay Sector Plan, Gonzalez said St. Joe has not lost sight of supporting economic development projects surrounding the airport.

During the workshop, McClellan provided a snapshot of Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport’s plans for the future and said officials have been working to recruit new airlines and add new destinations to and from Bay County.

“Airlines see an asset in this region,” said McClellan, citing a 300 percent growth in passengers since the airport relocated from Panama City, with the addition of service from Southwest and Delta. “We are a regional asset; we’re not just an asset for Bay County.”

Stubbs also cited enormous growth at Port Panama City over the last 10 years, with $75 million in investments to improve the port facilities, which led to huge increases in cargo handling capacity and diversification.

A decade ago the port was handling about 500,000 tons of cargo per year, a number that peaked 1.7 million tons last year.

“The port is at a really good place right now,” Stubbs said, citing plans to grow trade with valuable partners such as Mexico in the coming years. “Going forward, a million and a half tons (of cargo) is not sustainable. If you project out 10 to 15 years, we’re probably going to have to be at (2.5 million tons) to be sustainable. That’s just the way things are going right now.”