Hurricane brought 'moderate' erosion to Panama City Beach

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Six weeks before the opening of the spring tourism season, the Bay County Tourist Development Council on Tuesday heard good news on two fronts: the beach suffered only moderate erosion from Hurricane Michael, and the $23.7-million sports complex remains on schedule for a June completion despite record rainfall in recent months.

While the beach officially sustained a 4½-foot storm surge during the hurricane, the northerly winds on the western side of the cyclone “pushed the water back out to sea,” coastal engineering consultant Lisa Armbruster told the council. In contrast, Mexico Beach sustained a “phenomenal” surge of between 16 and 20 feet, which caused much of the devastation there, she said.

Armbruster said one of her firm’s ongoing priorities is to the planning and permitting process for what will likely be a $20-25-million beach reconstruction and nourishment project for the three-mile stretch of waterfront along Mexico Beach.

Funding for the beach restoration will likely involve federal, state and local funding, Armbruster said.

“We’re going to go after whatever [funds] we can get,” she said.

“We need to help them as humanly much as we can,” TDC member Buddy Wilkes agreed.

Elizabeth Moore, president of the engineering firm Anchor CEI, also had good news for the council. Despite the heavy rainfall that soaked Bay County in recent weeks, construction of the sports complex has reached the 50-percent mark, and should reach the completion date of June 2019 without difficulty.

“Overall, the project is coming along very well,” Moore said. “So far, everything is scheduled to be complete on time.”

At Moore’s request, the council voted to approve an additional $353,000 in contingency funding for the project for possible reinforcements to the roadway system and for additional dewatering pumps should the need arise for them.

In other business, the directors unanimously elected officers for 2019, choosing Buddy Wilkes as chairman to replace Andy Phillips; selecting Phil Chester as vice chairman, replacing Wilkes, and voting to retain Yonnie Patronis as treasurer.