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Panama City CRA weighs outdoor‑seating incentive to boost Millville restaurants
Summary
At a CRA virtual workshop, commissioners discussed an incentive program to help Millville restaurants add outdoor seating, connected streetscape plans on Third Street, potential grant limits and next steps including sketches and outreach to business owners.
Panama City CRA commissioners discussed an outdoor‑seating incentive program for Millville at a virtual workshop on Oct. 11, proposing small capital support to help restaurants add decks, lighting and furniture to draw patrons outdoors and increase foot traffic in Millville’s business corridors.
Why it matters: Commissioners and CRA staff said visible outdoor seating can attract customers, increase sales and spur neighborhood vitality in areas that have not seen the same downtown sidewalk activity. The discussion linked small incentives to other CRA efforts such as Third Street streetscape improvements and FDOT-funded beautification work at Whittington Park.
Program concept and local context
Commissioner Alan proposed a simple incentive to help cover costs for outdoor seating, lighting and furnishings so restaurants that lack large sidewalks can create outdoor dining areas on private property. He said the goal is to make it easy for small businesses to add outdoor seating without heavy permitting or administrative overhead.
Michelle Zirkle, CRA program manager, described a separate but related streetscape project the CRA is pursuing for Third Street: an approximately 8‑foot pedestrian path from Everett to Business 98, potential sewer-lining, burying utilities, new wayfinding signage, and a small parking safety village near Maple and Third. Zirkle said the streetscape work is being pursued with a bond and that the FDOT beautification grant work at Whittington Park should be substantially complete by the end of the month.
Local businesses and logistics discussed
Participants identified four existing restaurants in the Millville boundary: the new Thai restaurant (Roy Thai), Get You A Box (recently moved to brick-and-mortar), Gene’s Oyster Bar and the Southern Bistro near Vamby’s and the Y. Two of those restaurants already have cafe permits for outdoor seating; Gene’s Oyster Bar previously received two CRA grants, a precedent commissioners cited in the discussion.
Committee members raised design and operational questions: parking constraints at the Southern Bistro, safety where cars park along Bay Avenue and Business 98, and whether outdoor seating could be created by optimizing rear or side yards, consolidating dumpsters or improving back-of-house storage areas to free frontage for dining.
Next steps and outreach
Commissioner Alan said he would meet with interested restaurant owners, sketch potential layouts on Google Maps and return to the next CRA virtual workshop with visuals and letters of interest. Staff agreed to post the workshop video to the city’s YouTube channel and to share contact information through panamacity.gov so residents and business owners can provide feedback.
Quotes of record
“When you get your patrons as a restaurant out onto the sidewalk or outside your building, people go where there are people,” Commissioner Alan said, describing the goal of the outdoor seating program.
“We're currently looking into installing a pedestrian path that would start at Everett and go down Third to Maple,” Michelle Zirkle said, summarizing the streetscape elements under consideration for Third Street.
Ending
No formal incentive program was adopted at the workshop. Commissioners asked staff and the presenting commissioner to develop sketches, seek business owner input and return with visuals at the next CRA virtual workshop for further consideration.
