PANAMA CITY — The timing was just right for the Buccaneer Beach Motel.
Bayside of PC LLC, owners of the Buccaneer, is requesting an agreement with the city to develop a 117-unit condo building on the Beach Drive property, which sits on St. Andrew Bay next to a shallow channel leading to Johnson Bayou. They have not submitted a full development order to the city, but commissioners will vote on an agreement locking the 3.15-acre site in its current zoning standards for a decade — the second of its kind for the current board.
“Politicians can be pretty fickle,” said Commissioner John Kady. “And of course there’s the possibility we may not be re-elected, so they really needed some predictability.”
The proposed agreement would lock in the entitlements allowed by the Downtown District zoning standards for 10 years regardless of the board’s make-up in that time.
Kady wanted to clarify that before commissioners approved any development order, developers would need to address traffic issues, infrastructure and nearby Johnson Bayou residents’ concerns.
“In the past there has been some concern about access to Johnson Bayou and the flow in and out as it impacts the health of the bayou,” Kady said. “I wanted everybody to know this agreement would freeze the code, but any development order would have to come back before the commission when they want to do something.”
Downtown District has become a desirable zoning designation since being passed into law early January 2012. The purpose is to revitalize downtown with a mixture of developments. Downtown District boundaries reach from the Buccaneer on the west to Allen Avenue on the east, and south of Eighth Street to the downtown marina. Anything from light industrial developments to entertainment venues to condominiums are allowed in the Downtown District.
It also bridges any inconsistencies among development classifications and allows the property owner to develop from lot-line to lot-line in all directions without setbacks.
The structure can be up to 150 feet from the ground floor to the ceiling of the highest habitable unit, plus 25 feet for roof and mechanical appliances, if certain building and construction criteria are met. Developers can build 30 dwelling units per acre, but that number also can be exceeded by using incentives.
Owners of the Buccaneer are the second group to approach sitting commissioners to request a development agreement.
SweetBay, the 3,200-home subdivision on the old airport property, also requested a development agreement for plans on the site.
“With SweetBay, it’s a huge project that may span 15 years,” Kady said. “So they know 10 years from now they aren’t going to have a piecemealportion of the subdivision.”
Once approved, the city has to honor the agreements for 10 years but can terminate them if a development order is not filed within that time or a development permit has not commenced two years after filing an application for a development order.
“In the economy we live in, it may take three to five years to develop a condo out on the water, so you want to make sure the rules don’t get changed on you,” Kady said. “But we have a situation downtown where, as we start to expand over the next few years, we are going to have to ensure compatibility with those legacy neighborhoods like the one around Johnson Bayou.”
Commissioners will hear public comment and vote on the development agreement during their Feb. 11 meeting beginning at 8 a.m. at City Hall. The meeting is open to the public.