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| Community Budget Issue Requests - Tracking Id #721 |
| Panama City Beaches |
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| Requester: |
Debi Knight |
Organization: |
Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce |
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| Project Title: |
Panama City Beaches |
Date Submitted |
1/12/2005 2:08:28 PM |
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| Sponsors: |
Clary |
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| Statewide Interest: |
| Ecomomic Development. This project will permit maintaining tourism levels and services, increasing tourismrelated activities, attracting additional tourists and planning, attracting and developing a greater and more diverse tourism and tourism supportive economic base for Northwest Florida. With a visitor center/ reception area, meeting rooms and adequate space for chamber personnel it will also provide for additional economic development activities to bring other supportive industry and development to this region of the State. |
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| Recipient: |
Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce |
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Contact: |
Debi Knight |
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415 Beckrich Road, Suite 200 |
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Contact Phone: |
(850) 235-1159 |
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Panama City Beach 32407 |
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Contact email: |
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| Counties: |
Bay |
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| Gov't Entity: |
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Private Organization (Profit/Not for Profit): |
Yes |
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| Project Description: |
| With the growth and anticipated growth of this area, situation that presently exist in the tourist industry, and the inadequacy of present facilities (small second floor location with little parking) it is imperative that the Chamber relocate. The Beaches Chamber was the recipient of the 2003 and 1998-99 "State of Florida's Chamber of the Year" award and was recently awarded accreditation in the U. S. Chamber with four stars which placed this Chamber among the top ranked chambers in the U. S. The President was selected in 2003 as "State of Florida's Chamber Professional of the Year." Membership rank includes over 900.
The Chamber will in a joint venture with the City of Panama City Beach build a center for tourism, industry, and community adjacent to and connected with a branch library. The two buildings joined with a walkway will be located on City property and as a part of a community center complex. The Chamber and its members are seeking to build a reception area/chamber office work space for the many functions and activities that it performs for the community and business environment. Since its inception in 1987 the Panama City Beaches Chamber of Commerce has not had a permanent home and has been located in shared space and a rental location.
The building will house a community boardroom and multipurpose meeting area with fully equipped kitchen for local business, civic, and other organizations; a reception/welcome area for prospective businessmen, residents, and visitors; offices for the staff; and serve as a storage and dispensing facility for tourism guides, information/relocation packets, and other materials to meet the needs of visitors and community members. The building will also house the tourism and tourism supportive economic development arm of this Chamber and the Beaches.
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| Is this a project related to 2004 hurricane damage? |
No |
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| Measurable Outcome Anticipated: |
| Generally, the Chamber will be able to better serve the community and business through its many services. Specifically, outcomes will include generating and measuring an increase in walk-in traffic (50% increase) tourism; increase in bed tax revenue; increase in education of members and other business owners/operators (25% increase); increase in numbers (business and residential) requesting relocation packets; increase in numbers of those in which the Chamber will be able to follow through with relocation contact (100% increase); increase in use of facilities by community, civic, and governmental agencies (100% increase); and increase in economic impact. The number of walk-in traffic will increase, and public visibility and use of facility will increase. The number of tourism and tourism related/supportive facilities/businesses in Northwest Florida will increase. For a quantifiable measure, the Chamber Board will compare present numbers (data collected for the above somewhat limited services and use and revenues) with those of expanded services and use and revenues (data generated each month after the building is built). An adequate system for recording contacts, referrals, use of building, economic activities, and other services is in place and will be continued. The Chamber Board regularly holds meetings with Panama City Beach City Council, Bay County Commission, TDC, and interested citizens to develop plans and assess and evaluate the direction of the Chamber and this area of the State. This will continue and provide measurable outcomes.
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| Amount requested from the State for this project this year: |
$300,000 |
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| Total cost of the project: |
$600,000 |
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| Request has been made to fund: |
Construction |
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| What type of match exists for this project? |
Local |
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Cash Amount |
$ |
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In-kind Amount |
$300,000 |
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| Was this project previously funded by the state? |
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No |
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| Is future-year funding likely to be requested? |
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No |
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| Was this project included in an Agency's Budget Request? |
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No |
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| Was this project included in the Governor's Recommended Budget? |
No |
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| Is there a documented need for this project? |
No |
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| Was this project request heard before a publicly noticed meeting of a body of elected officials (municipal, county, or state)? |
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Yes |
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Hearing Body: |
Panama City Council Meeting |
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Hearing Meeting Date: |
01/08/2005 |
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| Is this a water project as described in Section 403.885, Laws of Florida? |
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No |
