RESTORE Proposals Advanced by BOCC

Update September 23, 2016

On October 4, Bay County's draft RESTORE Act Multi-Year Implementation Plan, including 15 project proposals, will be presented to the Board of County Commissioners. The plan can be downloaded (PDF). This Plan is for RESTORE Act Direct Component ("Pot 1") funds that are reserved for Bay County's use. A list and map of the projects and a tally of comments received on the projects (PDF) is available. The draft plan was considered in a public hearing during the Board's July 19 meeting. A 45-day public comment period was then opened. More than 130 comments were received.

The public comments can be downloaded (16 megs, downloads as zipped folder, click on and view each comment as a pdf). The draft plan is also available for viewing at the main Bay County Public Library at 898 W 11th St., Panama City, FL 32401. Additional information is available at Bay County's main RESTORE Act page and this page on the Plan and projects under consideration.

The Plan is being brought back to the Board for consideration of the public comments and to conduct a second public hearing. Approximately $7 million is available for projects. The cost of the 15 proposed projects in the draft Plan exceeds the available funds by approximately $2.5 million. The cost of projects in the Board-approved Plan cannot exceed the funds available, so not all 15 projects will be selected for inclusion in the Plan. The Board will decide which projects to include in the Plan, then approve and submit the Plan to the U.S Department of the Treasury.

The Plan will be considered in a public hearing during the Board's October 4 meeting, which starts at 9 a.m. CT. Public comment will be allowed during the agenda item, limited to 3 minutes per person, no PowerPoints. Project supporters are encouraged to have one person speak for each project, with other supporters standing at the end of the speaking time to show their support.

Update July 20, 2016

At the Bay County Board of County Commissioners meeting of July 19, the Board approved the draft Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component (Pot 1) Multi-Year Implementation Plan (PDF). Video of the public hearing when the plan was discussed can be viewed under Item 11. A copy of the Plan is available at the main Bay County Public Library, 898 W 11th St., Panama City, FL. A map of all projects can be downloaded. Other materials and maps of individual projects are available on this page.

All 15 proposed projects are included in the draft Plan. The cost of the proposed projects exceeds the available funds. The public will have until 4 p.m. CT, September 2, 2016 to submit comments on the Plan. Email your comments; mailed comments can be sent to RESTORE Act Direct Component:
County Manager's Office
840 W 11th Street
Panama City, FL 32401

After reviewing comments, the Board will decide which of the projects to approve for funding with the available funds, approve the Plan, and send it to the U.S Department of the Treasury for review. After review of the Plan by Treasury, Bay County will prepare Direct Component grant applications for each project.

Documentation / Background

For background information purposes, project proposals as originally submitted by proposers are also provided on this page. The Proposals are listed in order of proposal number. Each proposal has the full proposal file in PDF format (2014-Number Number Number a, you must scroll through the text boxes to read), the main text of the proposal that was exported to a spreadsheet and saved as a PDF (2014-Number Number Number b, easiest to read and print out), and the budget sheet in PDF format (2014-Number Number Number c). However, the project information provided in the Plan represents the official project information.

Exhibits are attached to the end of the full proposal file (2014-Number Number Number a), with the exception of environmental checklists, which are separate files ending in "d" (2014-Number Number Number d). Maps of each proposal are also included (2014-Number Number Number Number m) Proposal presentations from the Bay County RESTORE Act Advisory Committee meeting are posted under the proposal number followed by an "e" (2014-Number Number Number e).

View an online map of the proposed projects.