Panama City - Bay County Airport and Industrial District Votes to Relocate Airport to West Bay
- BusinessWire
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Mar 23, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The St. Joe Company :
-- Proposed Relocation Requires Approval of the Federal Aviation Administration and Receipt of Environmental Permits, Other Regulatory Approvals and Funding
-- Proposed Airport Site is on Land Currently Owned by The St. Joe Company
The Panama City - Bay County Airport and Industrial District (Airport District) approved a motion late yesterday to relocate the Panama City - Bay County International Airport to a site in western Bay County on land currently owned by The St. Joe Company . Approval by the Airport District is one of many necessary steps required before the proposal to relocate the airport can proceed. Other remaining steps include the approval of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other federal, state and local regulatory agencies as well as significant funding from federal, state and Airport District sources. JOE has publicly committed to donate up to 4,000 acres to support the airport relocation upon completion of all of these steps.
In addition, JOE has indicated its willingness to donate, by conservation easement or deed transfer, enough land necessary to mitigate for the environmental impacts of the relocation. The proposed project potentially impacts hundreds of acres of wetlands that may require more than 10,000 acres of mitigation. Final approval of a mitigation plan is required of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The mitigation would initiate the creation of the West Bay Preservation Area that would preserve thousands of acres of environmentally sensitive land, including virtually the entire shoreline of West Bay. |
