Airport Relocation Program for the Panama City-Bay County International Airport

摘要

The relocation of the Panama City-Bay County International Airport to a new site about 25 miles northwest of Panama City, Florida, exhibits demanding site conditions and poses certain design and permitting challenges. In order to make the project compatible with all aspects of the community, the Design Team envisioned and proposed unique solutions to the new Green Field airport's permitting and mitigation processes. The paper describes a new airport that is planned and permitted around an ultimate 4,000-acre development footprint including two parallel commercial service runways and a crosswind general aviation runway. This project involves using a groundbreaking ecosystem team permitting (ETP) process in which state permits and approvals pertaining to wetlands, storm water management, water supply, wastewater, air quality, threatened and endangered species, and air permits are addressed in a holistic manner. The ETP approach involves a coordinated process whereby the project design and conditions of approval are presented, discussed, and negotiated in an open public forum, resulting in net ecosystem benefits and allowing greater flexibility in project design, issue resolution, and permit issuance.