Plans unveiled for three Panama City neighborhoods, seeking public input

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Panama City city planners put their ideas to paper for three local neighborhoods.

St. Andrews, Millville, and Glenwood sustained major damage from Hurricane Michael, and now the city is seeking the public’s input to build them back better.

The neighborhood vision for Glenwood includes safety improvements along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and new parks with sports courts and playgrounds. Ideas for Millville include a waterfront park and upgrading infrastructure. In St. Andrews, planners want to redesign Beck Avenue and improve existing parks.

However, City Manager Mark McQueen said they are ultimately listening to the locals.

“Everyone wants to focus on quality of life as number one and number two they want to enhance business opportunities in the commercial corridors,” McQueen said. “We’re really looking at how do we design and ensure that we have the highest and best use of property.”

The city is hosting three open houses this week in-person and online to continue the citizen-driven process.

“We’re trying to put as many options for input out there as possible and this is just another way to allow people to write down their thoughts,” said Eric Pate, senior planner for City of Panama City.

In the midst of recent federal investigations, McQueen wants to ensure the public the city is taking the right steps when it comes to handling this construction.

“[We are] enhancing our accounting team to ensure we can account for every one of our projects. We’re looking at establishing a project management office so we can manage the contracts, manage the quality, and manage the engineering as well,” McQueen said.

McQueen also said the final neighborhood plans will be taken to city commissioners come November. They will not know the cost of the project until the plans are finalized.

“This is kind of a road map after Michael to become the premier city of the Florida panhandle. So I encourage everyone to get involved and to join our zoom meetings that we have online in addition to some of our physical meetings,” Pate said.