PANAMA CITY BEACH — New amateur sports fields have been on the Bay County Tourist Development Council’s wish list for several years, and board members moved Thursday to put those plans on paper.
The TDC gave staff the go-ahead to solicit bids for the design of a new Panama City Beach “sports village,” a three-phase project submitted to the Bay County RESTORE Act Advisory Committee in the hopes of garnering a portion of the $6.3 million available for environmental and economic restoration projects.
The TDC’s sports village pre-proposal applications were just three of about 40 presented to the committee at a meeting Wednesday. Overall, the committee received 47 pre-proposals totaling $45.8 million in funding requests, and will narrow the list down to just 10 projects at a meeting Dec. 9.
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Despite the high number of pre-proposals, TDC Director Dan Rowe appeared confident at Thursday’s TDC meeting that one of the three sports village projects could make the short list.
“We were the only proposal that made a case for the positive economic benefits coming back to Panama City Beach outside of the summer travel season,” Rowe said, adding that the TDC has about $9 million set aside to put toward the projects. “We focused our economic increment ... based on non- June and July revenues and that ranged anywhere from $5.7 to $13 million a year” in economic impact.
For phase one of the project, the TDC is prioritizing the development of eight rectangular athletic fields, which could host soccer, lacrosse, rugby and other sports games and tournaments. The TDC requested $2 million in its pre-proposal application to help fund the $6.4 million project, which officials say could have a $13 million annual economic impact on the area.
Phase two and three include the development of artificial turf softball and baseball fields, softball carrying a total project cost of $8 million and baseball $11 million. For each project, the TDC requested $2 million in funding from the RESTORE Committee. Annual economic impact from the softball and baseball fields is estimated at $5.7 million and $11.5 million, respectively.
At the meeting, board member Andy Phillips questioned whether the TDC was premature in calling for plan designs because they have not yet identified a site for the complex.
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“The biggest issue we’ve had for many years is where we’re going to put it,” Phillips said. “Designing a facility or complex is great, as long as it can be put in whatever footprint we end up in.”
Rowe said the TDC has identified three potential parcels that could work for the complex and recommended the board move forward with the design so the project could move quickly if it’s chosen by the RESTORE Committee, which will be recommending projects to the Bay County Commission.
“We’ll be able to articulate that whole entire vision so people can really understand that these are standalone phases of a large project,” Rowe said. “Given the parameters that we have and the planning that’s already gone, by the time the money shows up ... we’re right in line.”