Panama City rethinks terms of St. Andrews Marina partnership. New special meeting planned

PANAMA CITY — Local officials have once again tabled their decision to enter into a partnership to restore the St. Andrews Marina.

In a meeting on Tuesday, commissioners continued an ongoing discussion about whether the city should enter into a public-private partnership with St. Andrews Marina Partners LLC to restore and oversee the marina, which was heavily damaged in October 2018 by Category 5 Hurricane Michael.

"We citizens of Panama City think that marina is a great money-maker," Mayor Michael Rohan said. "Well it might be a great money-maker in 50 years after we've rebuilt the whole darn thing, but right now we're probably not going to make a great deal of money out of it. But at the same time, we want a marina.

"We've got to figure out how to get there, and how to get it done, not expecting a lot of revenue out of it, but trying to make our people happy, trying to make St. Andrews happy (and) make it be part of the fabric of the city," he said.

During the meeting, a draft agreement was presented that included a 60-year lease with St. Andrews Marina Partners. The agreement also called for a potential hotel being built upland from the marina, the city helping support the funding of a 50-year bulkhead repair and the exploration of mechanisms other than insurance to help ensure the marina's rebuild in the instance of a natural disaster.

Past reports note all of the marina's bulkheads are outdated and need to be replaced. This is estimated to cost about $12.9 million.

"I have no interest in entertaining a hotel, either hypothetically or contractually, (as well as) no interest in additional lands or trying to play development with the area of St. Andrews," Commissioner Josh Street said. "I do believe we need to work toward an agreement that is significantly shorter than 60 years. I think that should be cut at least in half. The core of it is that it really needs to be focused on the bulkhead slips and operations."

Street also said the idea of building a hotel stems from trying to find a way to "make the numbers work."

"It is a significant amount of money for us to repair the bulkheads," he said. "There is a willingness on this commission to get funding so we don't have to go down these roads of what I would say are not to the appetite of the local community."

Street believes the goal of the project should be to restore the historic St. Andrews area, not add a hotel and turn it into a tourist destination.

For him, the commission should work to improve public property for public use and to benefit the community.

"That doesn't mean we're going to go mortgage our kids' future ... but if there's public property that our community should have access to, I think we want people to have access to it," Street said." That includes protecting what we have today and building toward the future."

Though Commissioner Brian Grainger also does not favor an upland hotel, he said he does not believe the commission should discount the idea of adding commercial uses to the area.

He assured the community that if the commission were to move forward with an agreement, no matter what it might look like, the public still would have access to the marina.

Special meeting: Panama City works to resolve issues in partnership to restore St. Andrews Marina

A special meeting will be held on April 9 at City Hall to further discuss the marina. There, another draft agreement will be presented that will likely exclude the hotel, lay out a 30-year lease and provide more information on how the city might help support the funding of a 50-year bulkhead repair.

"I don't want to just say flat out no commercial because St. Andrews could benefit from that," he said. "Every dollar that we earn on that marina ... has to stay at the marina. ... If we put commercial on the uplands ... then we're actually able to put that money into the general fund, which means we can go (make other) repairs (throughout the city).

"Lets not get so hung up on the idea of the hotel that we throw opportunity out of the window all together."

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City not happy with 1st draft of St. Andrews Marina partnership