Panama City Beach receives funds for underground powerlines

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - The world’s most beautiful beaches also come with what some might call some not-so-beautiful eyesores.

“You get out there, you’re driving around and you see all these cable lines and telephone lines,” Panama City Beach Vice Mayor Geoff McConnell said.

These power and communication lines run up and down Front Beach Road. Now, beach officials want to run those lines underground.

“First and foremost, it’s here for economic development. It’s going to increase property values. It’s going to increase the economics of people coming in here and wanting to put businesses in our area and that is great for all of us. Number two is the aesthetics of this area is going to change dramatically,” said McConnell.

But it’s more than about looks. McConnel said burying power lines also protects them from high winds and weather, particularly what we experienced during Hurricane Michael.

“What that does is, it gets it out of the elements and it allows no interruptions, or very limited interruptions of service to both power and communications,” Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Manager David Campbell said.

Beach officials applied for a FEMA grant to help fund this project. Campbell said they received phase one of the grant, funding the first two sections of the project. The first segment runs from Lullwater Drive to Hills Road. The second segment runs from Hills Road to Hutchinson Boulevard.

“And what that $1.1 million is for is to design the undergrounding, to permit the undergrounding, and to bid it,” said Campbell.

Campbell said they will be receiving approximately ten million dollars from FEMA to construct the entire first two sections. McConnell said at this time, they’re not sure if they’ll need to use money from the city to help fund this project.

“As with any grant, there are matching funds that are required to come from the city. Now what that is, I’m not sure yet. We have to get those numbers into check and verify it and we’ll provide those matching funds,” said McConnell.

“We made our best effort when we applied for this grant to make sure all the costs were covered, both from a design perspective and a construction perspective,” said Campbell.

A place city officials are wanting to keep as beautiful and efficient as possible.

“It’s going to be a fantastic thing for the residents and for visitors to come down through Front Beach Road and have those things removed so they have a clear view of the beach and the wonderful place we live,” said McConnell.

McConnell said safety continues to be the city’s number one priority. This project will also include sidewalks, pedestrian crosswalks, and a tram system up and down Front Beach Road.

Campbell said once they get past phase one of designing and bidding, phase two kicks in which is the construction of it. He adds they expect to go out for bid on these two segments later next year.

The third segment will eventually be from Hutchinson Boulevard to Richard Jackson Boulevard.

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