PANAMA CITY BEACH — The owner of an event organizing firm plans to make his pitch to the City Council to allow a temporary beach slide at a major post-Spring Break event.
City Manager Mario Gisbert said Monday that he told Michael R. Levitt, the co-owner of XM Event Group, that the slide would not be allowed. Gisbert told the City Council at its meeting last week that Police Chief Drew Whitman has expressed concerns about the slide taking up open space that could help with the ebb and flow of thousands of proposed patrons of the event.
The council at its next meeting, on Feb. 12 at City Hall, will listen to Levitt, of Fort Lauderdale, make his case for allowing the slide, which is proposed to be sandwiched between two large stages, one used during the day and the other at night, on the beach behind Days Inn and Paradise Palms on Front Beach Road.
Levitt declined to comment Monday.
XM Event Group has submitted one of the first special event applications for the coming Spring Break under a new ordinance the City Council has passed to tone down and better control the celebration. Under the new ordinance, organizers of major Spring Break events need to explain to the city in their application how they will handle emergency medical response, sanitation, security, parking and other issues.
XM Event Group’s permit application states it’s “perfectly capable of executing any plans/actions for this type of event.” The permit states XM Event Group is taking proactive measures to prevent parking overflow, including acquiring an additional parking lot and offering a free shuttle bus service.
“Once (attendees) get to the event, their wristband will allow them to enter the fenced in area (approximately 300 yards long) for the night time, and the open area on the beach for the day time,” the permit states. “The purpose of this fence at night (where all production will be) is to help for liability and restrict those who are not part of the event.”
The permit states they anticipate 40 to 60 special event personnel contingent upon the amount recommended by the security company.
“Off-duty police officers will be located inside the fenced area, as well as a centralized location, most likely the pool deck,” the permit states.
Billy Alam, the general manager of the Days Inn, explains in the letter to the city’s building department that the hotel has worked with XM Event Group on post-Spring Break college weekends for the past seven years.
“All of their groups have been well-behaved and a pleasure to serve and the tone of the students has been much lower key than the typical Spring Break Group,” he wrote in a letter to city officials.
Alam said XM Event Group consistently has done what they said they would do during the planning and implementation of these events, which this year would be once again on April 10-11, and be held from noon to midnight.
“In the past years, XM Event Group included a pool party on our Days Inn beach pool deck for the guests at the Days Inn and Paradise Palms,” Alam states. “This year, they would like to host a beach party for college students from Florida colleges on the Days Inn beach (approximately 100 yards length) within the fenced in area. ...”
“XM Event Group is also aware that no alcohol can be sold or distributed on the beach,” Alam stated.
Russ Kinslow, marketing director for Days Inn, said XM Event Group in the past has considered guest safety first and would also do so with the new slide.
He said he does not expect a rowdy crowd at this event, which he considers more of a post-Spring Break event because of how early Easter falls this year.
“It’s not spring breakers,” he said. “Most [of the attendees] are out of college and don’t come from typical college destinations. They come mostly from Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
“This is one of the only events that pulls South Floridians up here. Usually, it’s the other way around,
he added. “There is some uniqueness in this event. It usually brings in large [musical] headliners.”