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Chickpea

Beach Fanatic
Dec 15, 2005
1,151
366
30-A Corridor
I guess that depends on what you call an eyesore. It's not exactly in the same category as a run-down house trailer with a couple of dead pickups in the yard.

As a frequent flyer, I LIKE the old PC airport. It's small and handy, no need to arrive 2 hours before scheduled departure to clear security. During peak travel times, there could be a little more parking, but other than that I'm going to hate to see it go. Beats the toot out of, say, Atlanta or Orlando. "Progress" isn't always better for everyone.

BTW, I've still got all my teeth. :D

I too love the convenience and no hassle of small PFN and VPS airports BUT it is quite expensive and it is such a pain to not be able to fly anywhere without having to go through Atlanta or another major hub. No good answer here.

Who knows whether the new airport will indeed offer new routes and MORE (not less) convenience - it will truely be ironic if after hundreds of millions, we are left with +/- the same thing. Anyone have any information on this?

As to growth and development - these are, especially in a State like Florida, inevitable - however we should all do our part to make sure that this is managed as best as possible.
 

pmd8

Beach Lover
Jul 27, 2005
138
20
PMD:

Regarding PCB, you said "Either there's no beach, or there's ugly "renourished" brown sand..." Which beach have you visited in PCB that has either of these characteristics? Further, which beach are you using as a standard for comparison?

I find the beaches as white as ever and deeper than they were a couple of years ago.

Little Fish
If you find the beaches "white as ever" then you did not see the beaches in the seventies and eighties prior to beach renourishment. If you've been to Shell Island then you understand what I'm talking about. Another way to tell the difference is the squeaking sound you hear when you walk on the original quartz sand. The imported sand is not quartz.

Scan the beaches on GoogleEarth or Google Maps with satellite. There are many areas where you can see buildings practically in the water and you can see the color of the sand compared with Shell Island.
 
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Little Fish

Beach Lover
Oct 9, 2007
134
7
Atlanta, GA
PMD:

I must confess I did not see the beaches in the 70's; however, I've been vacationing religiously in the PCB area since 1981. IMO, the beaches of the Florida Panhandle cannot be touched elsewhere in the US. If the beaches were whiter than they were in the early 80's, I would have loved to have seen them.

Google Earth shows pictures of the panhandle two years ago and is not up to date. I was last in PCB two months ago and have no issues with the beach renourishment. In fact, geologists were hired to ensure that the dredged sand had the same quality/characteristics of existing sand in PCB. This was not "imported sand", as the sand was taken directly from the Gulf. I believe they did a good job of choosing the dredge location and the sand today still retains the "squeaking" sound to which you refer. I am also fond of this sound.

The beaches have only gotten better and are superior to many beaches found in SoWal (and Destin for that matter). That may be why Walton is also considering beach renourishment.

Little Fish
 

Matt J

SWGB
May 9, 2007
24,646
9,496
On the contrary, Bay County consistently favors developers over the interest of its citizens and without regard to the impact unregulated growth has on the environment. Drive down Front Beach Road. Either there's no beach, or there's ugly "renourished" brown sand which would not have been needed had there been proper setback lines.

Moving the airport despite the fact that the majority of residents voted against it was just another kowtow to St. Joe. So what if it's going to cost $330 million and destroy 4000 acres of wetlands?

Most of the people I know who oppose the new airport are well-educated and well-informed rednecks who are tired of seeing their once beautiful town destroyed. Why is it that everyone thinks growth is good? Go to Miami, Orlando or Atlanta and see the sprawling messes they've become.

I'm assuming from your snide remarks you moved here from somewhere else. My grandparents may have been uneducated sharecroppers with poor dentition, but at least they had manners.

Sorry, but it just burns me up when someone who can't even punctuate denigrates a whole class of people.

The issue always seems to be growth. Now we wouldn't need growth if there weren't more people on this Earth. So to sum up your argument AGAINST growth, you've had yourself sterilized right? I mean to still be able to or actually reproducing that would make you a hypocrit right?
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,648
1,773
I believe Leukadia has already purchased the old airoprt site for $55 million. Can any realtor confirm this?
I believe that I heard that the contract for that property had been written, but as I understand it, the sale will not take place until after the new airport is opened. Again, that is what I recall hearing, but it may not be accurate.
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,648
1,773
...
The beaches have only gotten better and are superior to many beaches found in South Walton (and Destin for that matter). That may be why Walton is also considering beach renourishment.

Little Fish

From what I understand, it has more to do with FEMA paying a good portion of the nourishment, and an even larger portion of any future re-nourishment.
 

Babyblue

Beach Fanatic
Mar 1, 2006
526
6
Seagrove Beach
I guess that depends on what you call an eyesore. It's not exactly in the same category as a run-down house trailer with a couple of dead pickups in the yard.

As a frequent flyer, I LIKE the old PC airport. It's small and handy, no need to arrive 2 hours before scheduled departure to clear security. During peak travel times, there could be a little more parking, but other than that I'm going to hate to see it go. Beats the toot out of, say, Atlanta or Orlando. "Progress" isn't always better for everyone.

BTW, I've still got all my teeth. :D

The old PC airport is like Montgomery Alabama's airport. Small and inefficient. Montgomery is the capital city for the state and still has a crummy airport. Hyundai made a 1 billion, yes 1 billion dollar investment in that city and the executives and workers have to fly to Atlanta for non-stop flights for other parts of the world. Our new Airport will offer non-stop flights around the WORLD! I for one would like to go back to other countries that I have visited and not have to change planes 4-5 times.
 
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TooFarTampa

SoWal Insider
The issue always seems to be growth. Now we wouldn't need growth if there weren't more people on this Earth. So to sum up your argument AGAINST growth, you've had yourself sterilized right? I mean to still be able to or actually reproducing that would make you a hypocrit right?

I've posted before about a dear friend of mine who prefers living in the rural Midwest. She and her husband don't like the urban sprawl creeping out their way, yet they are about to have their fourth child. This "macro" issue of population growth isn't one that is often discussed these days unless you are talking about immigration. Hubby and I have three kids (one more than the ZPG standard), so I've decided that I am in no position to ever complain about growth or sprawl. I heard last week that "three is the new two," which might be great for families, not so great from a land use perspective. :dunno:

Like Chickpea, I believe the key is planning for growth (glad Chickpea is one of those folks hanging around to help :D). I go back and forth about the decision to do the airport now, but mostly I'm uncomfortable with the way much of it has been handled.
 

TreeFrog

Beach Fanatic
Oct 11, 2005
1,798
212
Seagrove
I too love the convenience and no hassle of small PFN and VPS airports BUT it is quite expensive and it is such a pain to not be able to fly anywhere without having to go through Atlanta or another major hub. No good answer here.

Who knows whether the new airport will indeed offer new routes and MORE (not less) convenience - it will truely be ironic if after hundreds of millions, we are left with +/- the same thing. Anyone have any information on this?

As to growth and development - these are, especially in a State like Florida, inevitable - however we should all do our part to make sure that this is managed as best as possible.

We THINK/HOPE/EXPECT that air fares will be cheaper with a larger airport. Not necessarily so. I lived for years in Memphis, a Northwest hub. NWA fares out of Memphis were about the same as they are out of PC. Yeah, I know, PC won't be a hub. But who's to say it will develop into a competitive market?

So, here's the thing about travel. Your typical 3 or 4 day business or vacation trip, with plane, rental car, hotel, and food will run you $1200 to $1700, depending. So your fare gets $200 cheaper, it doesn't turn into a GO/NO GO decision. You already made that decision when you tipped over for the first $1000. My point, of course, is that while it would be nice to save a little on the air fare, a whole new airport is a big price to pay for that, and may also lose in convenience some of what it saves for price. Lots of cheap fares to Orlando, but who wants to fly out of that airport regularly?
 

flyguy

Beach Lover
Apr 2, 2007
77
12
The old PC airport is like Montgomery Alabama's airport. Small and inefficient. Montgomery is the capital city for the state and still has a crummy airport. Hyundai made a 1 billion, yes 1 billion dollar investment in that city and the executives and workers have to fly to Atlanta for non-stop flights for other parts of the world. Our new Airport will offer non-stop flights around the WORLD! I for one would like to go back to other countries that I have visited and not have to change planes 4-5 times.

Curious as to why you think the new PCB airport will have non stop flights around the world. I am not saying it won't. But my gut feeling as is that it wil not have any more service initially than the old airport. The old airport is way underutilized and any airline in the country could add flights now. The problem is not lack of runway or gates but lack of passengers. Again I am not saying flights will not increase as the population increases, but that would have happened at the old airport as well.

No problem with planning ahead for future growth for the region. But as I stated before: air service will increase as the passenger base increases, no just because there is a new terminal and runway.

JMHO,
Flyguy
 
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