The Cost of the Status Quo

Airport relocation critics often attack the cost of moving the airport to West Bay. But they conveniently ignore the very real cost of maintaining the status quo. I'm not just talking about opportunity cost - of which there is plenty - I'm talking about cost of bringing the existing airport up to federal safety and design standards.

The FAA has said that maintaining the status quo at our airport is "not reasonable, feasible, practicable or prudent." We have to address the deciencies at our airport, particularly the lack of standard-sized runway safety areas (RSAs).

So what would it cost to bring our current airport up to federal standards? Today, the estimate is upwards of $150 million dollars. You read that right: $150 million plus.

What would that money be spent on? Well, we'd have to engineer and build a tunnel for SR390 to go under an extended runway system. And we'd need a foolproof system to keep the tunnel clear of water during hurricanes and storm surges. SR390 is, after all, one of Panama City's primary hurricane evacuation routes.

Money would also have to be spent to "take" between 100 and 200 homes in Forest Park. The Airport Authority would have to impose eminent domain rules and forcibly take many, many families' homes. Others, whose homes are not taken, would end up with an airport boundary fence in their back yards.

This is not a scare tactic - this is the only remaining alternative to relocation, based on the FAA's EIS analysis and Record of Decision. And this is the option the NRDC and Friends of PFN and other local opponents have rallied behind.

If we spend $150 million plus on our existing airport, we'll end up with a temporary band-aid fix and a long-term problem our children will have to fix later.

Now consider this. Relocation is estimated to cost $300 million plus. But $60 to $80 million of that budget will be covered by the sale of the existing airport. The airport site and the mitigation land is being donated by the St. Joe Company, eliminating another cost to Bay County. And the state of Florida has committed to paying approximately one-third of the cost.

If instead we try to "fix" our existing airport, we won't have funds from the sale of the property, we won't benefit from St. Joe's land donation (which, by the way, will only get more valuable in the years ahead), and the State of Florida is far less likely to chip in a significant amount of money. And at the end of the process, we'll be left with a contrained airport in a residential neighborhood that will have to be moved at some point in the future.

What are the financial advantages of relocation? We can share the costs, with the FAA, the State of Florida, St. Joe and the Airport Authority each contributing. We can face long-term problems head on by investing the money today. And, we can reap the benefits of better air service, an economic development platform and the creation of a 40,000 acre conservation area to protect West Bay.

Suddenly, relocation looks like a pretty sound investment.