PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WMBB) — In hopes to create better looking and more active neighborhoods, the Panama City Beach Planning Board is looking to bring a park initiative before the city council.
At Thursday morning’s planning board workshop, the group discussed how the initiative would work and the benefits of it.
The proposed plan would require any new residential project that is three acres or more have open green space set aside.
The ordinance would require 5% of the total acreage be set aside for this open space and Planning Board Chairman Mark Sheldon says it could be used for multiple reasons.
“It’s open cleared land that has some green space. It can have other amenities on it. It can have jungle gyms, it can have whatever the neighborhood desires but it’s just a good way to make sure every neighborhood has a park going forward,” Sheldon said.
The idea would also apply to current developments that are launching new phases.
This, however, is only an idea and will need to be placed before City Council before being considered.