Panama City officials shut down misconceptions about Beach drive Project
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) – At Thursday's Panama City Commission meeting some Panama City residents argued the wording of the Beach Drive referendum was biased.
City officials responded to public comment by taking the opportunity to clear up some common misconceptions about the total amount of the funding, specifically false claims about what they've already spent on the project's design.
'The city seeks to save face by placing a totally biased referendum on the April 22 election. This is an attempt to silence the voices of the mayor and commissioners by threatening them with possible election interference if they discuss it at Panama City Commission meetings,' Mayor 'Doc' Rohan wrote in his first campaign letter.
Rohan admitted to sending the first campaign letter to over 5000 residents just two weeks ago.
In that same letter, Rohan wrote in bold, 'The city has spent over 1 million for engineering plans and legal fees for the project.'
Well the election is over for the referendum and city officials are now able to clear up some of that misinformation, regardless of who spread it.
'We keep hearing from some folks that, you know, we've already spent over $1,000,000 to design this path, and that is factually incorrect. We have spent over $1,000,000 right out of $1,000,000 for the purpose of the design, as well as the environmental surveys and review of the project, the surveying, the legal fees to look at every single deed to make sure, again, which this commission has been committed to the entire time, to keep the path within the either the state maintenance or the cities platted right away,' City Manager Jonathan Hayes said.
'Plus, we brought in a horticulturist we brought in and arborists. We looked at every single tree. We did public outreach with this. We had four public meetings. All of those have been those fees,' said Hayes.
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Hayes also addressed claims that the referendum was biased, saying the text was even workshopped to clarify language.
'I respectfully disagree that the wording was biased. There were a couple of words. If you go back to the commission meeting when they discussed and voted to put the referendum on the ballot, there was two words, it was 'enhanced landscaping' and then 'beautification.' The decision was made to pull those two because they felt those were more subjective. But the words that remained, environmental improvements, pedestrian safety improvements, engineering enhancements, those are objective words,' Hayes said.
The city's attorney joined in on the discussion that the money already spent will be covered by the $8 million grant, which drew a comment from Mayor Rohan.
'Are the legal fees covered by the grant? And it sounded to me like you think they probably are. Am I misquoting?,' asked Rohan.
'No. No, they should be,' responded City Attorney Nevin Zimmerman.
'Absolutely should be. All right. So, OK, so the answer to his question is they should be covered. Obviously, we won't know until you send them a bill and get it back,' Rohan said.
Many who opposed the referendum were concerned that the grant would not cover the total funds needed for a project of this nature.
'We have recently updated our engineering estimate for the construction cost. And we feel very, very sure that our estimate and the overall grant of $8 million is going to be more than enough to build the sidewalk from Frankford Avenue to Johnson Bayou,' Hayes continued.
The non-binding referendum passed, but it's non-binding.
Hayes says the city is continuing to communicate with the DOT as originally intended. They'll review the plans and decide if they'll grant the city the right of way construction permit to build the path.
Hayes maintains the city is committed to moving commerce quickly and safely into downtown Panama City.
He adds they are currently debating the lane sizes for the project. However, he believes the lanes don't need to be any wider than 11 feet.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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