ABOUT PANAMA CITY

GENERAL INFORMATION

The City of Panama City is located in the Florida "panhandle" on St. Andrews Bay approximately 170 miles east of Mobile, Alabama, 95 miles east of Pensacola, Florida and 100 miles southwest of Tallahassee, Florida. St. Andrews Bay surrounds much of Panama City and provides a protected harbor for facilities at the growing Port of Panama City complex. The City-owned Panama City Marina and St. Andrews Marina, located on the Florida's intercoastal waterway, provide excellent docking service for vessels up to 130 feet. The City-owned Marina Civic Center located on the Panama City Marina and nearby Martin Theatre and the Visual Arts Center provide a wide variety of cultural and entertainment opportunities for the citizens of Panama City and the surrounding area. The Panama City-Bay County area also has an abundant supply of fresh water. Panama City's qualitative attributes provide a highly attractive living environment compatible with a variety of tastes and life styles. Cited most often are:

The Panama City area has a climate that is nearly ideal. The average annual temperature is 68.8 degrees. Average summer temperature is 81 degrees and the average winter temperature is 53 degrees. Annual precipitation averages 57.86 inches. Prevailing winds are southerly in the summer and northerly in the winter.

EDUCATION

Education is a dominant factor in the make-up of the Panama City-Bay County area. Gulf Coast Community College and the Florida State University/Panama City Campus are located in the City.

Gulf Coast Community College

Programs at Gulf Coast include two-year university transfer and career oriented fields of study leading to 57 Associate in Arts and 30 Associate in Science Degrees. The school also offers one-year certificates in various areas of study, as well as a broad variety of non-credit offerings through its Office of Continuing Education.

Gulf Coast Community College and Florida State University/Panama City Campus cooperate in a 2 + 2 program whereby Gulf Coast Community College provides the first two years of education and Florida State University provides the last two years of undergraduate work leading to a Baccalaureate. The Panama City Campus of Florida State University currently provides undergraduate degree programs to Panama City-Bay County area residents in 19 fields. Master degree offerings cover 11 different fields ranging from business, education, engineering, and nursing to psychology. Future degree programs will be added.

Troy State University

The Troy State University, Florida Region at Tyndall Air Force Base, currently provides undergraduate degree programs to Panama City-Bay County area residents in psychology and business administration/management. Master degree offerings cover five different fields: human development, human resource management, international relations, management and public administration.

Bay County Public Schools

Bay District Schools serve a population of more than 147,000 people within a geographic area of 764 square miles. The school district is the 21st largest in Florida with an enrollment in excess of 26,000 students. The school term begins in mid-August and ends in early June. A child must be 5 years of age by September 1 of the current school year to attend kindergarten. The school district student population is 80 percent white non-Hispanic, 15 percent Black, 1 percent Hispanic, 3 percent Asian-Pacific islander and less than 1 percent American Indian.

The Bay County School Board employs over 3,000 people to operate the school district, including 1,600 certified teachers and administrators. All classroom teachers have Bachelor's degrees and over 35 percent of the instructional staff have advanced degrees. The school system has received a statewide award for its outstanding school volunteer program.

Transportation to and from schools is provided for Bay County elementary school students who live more than ¾ mile from their assigned schools, middle school students who live more than 1½ miles from their assigned schools and senior high school students who live 2 miles or more from their assigned schools.

All Bay District schools are fully accredited by the Florida Department of Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. For more information about the Bay County School System, visit their Web site at.

MEDICAL FACILITIES

Bay Medical Center

Bay Medical Center is an accredited, not-for-profit, regional medical center. Bay Medical Center is a 353-bed facility and has over 300 physicians on staff representing virtually every medical specialty and a support staff of more than 1600 employees. Bay Medical Center provides a wide range of medical-surgical services, including in-patient and out-patent surgery, the only open heart surgery program within 100 miles, Gastroenterology, a sleep disorders center and other medical specialty programs. Bay Medical also provides ambulance services in the County. For more information about Bay Medical Center visit their web site at .

Gulf Coast Medical Center

Gulf Coast Medical Center was opened on January 2, 1977 as a 150-bed, private enterprise hospital. The hospital has 799 full-time equivalent personnel and is now a 176-bed, full-service medical/surgical facility. Gulf Coast Medical Center has a Woman's and Children Center, a Neonatal ICU, a Wound Care Center and other medical specialty services available to meet the health care needs of the community.

TRANSPORTATION

The Bay Town Trolley provides public bus transportation. The trolley route includes major shopping centers, hospitals and transportation to Panama City Beach. Southern Greyhound provides intercity bus transportation. Small package express service is available through Airborne Express, Federal Express, Purolator and UPS, which maintain terminals in the Panama City area.

Commercial airline service at the Panama City/Bay County International Airport is provided by Northwest Airlink to Memphis, USAir Express to Tampa/Orlando and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which provides jet service to Atlanta.

The following car rental agencies are located either at the Airport or in convenient locations near the Airport: AAA, Alamo, Avis Budget, Cartempts USA, Dollar Enterprise, Hertz, National, Sears and U-Save. Several taxi and limousine services offer ground transportation from the Airport.

The Bay Line Railroad provides rail freight service to Panama City businesses and industry and to Port Panama City. "The Bay Line" interconnects with both the CSX Transportation Company in Dothan, Alabama and in Cottondale, Florida. "The Bay Line" also interconnects with the Norfolk Southern Railroad in Dothan, Alabama.

PORT PANAMA CITY

Port Panama City is the northernmost port in the Gulf of Mexico. Port Panama City is a relatively young port established in 1967 with one deepwater berth and one 42,000 square foot warehouse. Currently, the Port has grown to six deepwater berths consisting of 3,240 linear feet, with 32 foot draft, 600 linear feet of barge facilities, and 470,000 square feet of warehousing space. The Port is efficiently equipped with loading and unloading facilities for truck, rail, barge, container, RO-RO vessel and deepwater vessel traffic. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is located adjacent to the Port and offers intracoastal shipment capability via barge.

As an integral part of Port Panama City's infrastructure of services, Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) #65 represents a major incentive to new industry getting established in Bay County. Currently, FTZ #65 offers many different advantages to both importers and exporters, depending on the type of product and on the international target markets in which they are participating.

The menu of services at Port Panama City is geared to benefit its customers or industrial park tenants, regardless of their product line or volumes. The advantages and benefits are readily available to those industries expanding or relocating in our area, whether in manufacturing, assembly, or transshipment of commodities in the Port area, or at any of the industrial park sites.

Port Panama City rates are among the most economical on the Gulf of Mexico or East Coast region, and combined with the incentives available through FTZ #65, represent an attractive alternative to industries seeking to expand or relocate in this part of the State.

The Panama City-Bay County area has three major industrial parks consisting of 560 acres: 1. The Port Panama City Industrial Complex (125 acres); 2. Hugh Nelson Industrial Park (175 acres); and 3. Bay Industrial Park (260 acres). In addition, the Port Authority and the Bay Line Railroad are participating jointly on the development of a new industrial park consisting of 1,500 acres. For more information about Port Panama City visit their Web site at or call the Port Authority at .

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