Panama City holds workshop on proposed transportation impact fees as builders, developers warn of affordability and development risks

City of Panama City staff and consultants on Thursday presented a draft transportation impact fee program and heard more than two hours of objections from builders, developers, realtors and business groups who said the proposed charges would worsen housing affordability and could deter commercial investment.

City Manager Jonathan Hayes introduced the session and said staff had been "tasked with looking for alternate revenue sources so they don't have to rely solely on the general fund," adding that existing tax revenues are not sufficient to pay needed transportation improvements. Hadley Peterson of Kimley Horn, the consultant team that produced the study, walked through the study timeline and methods; Mike Woodward, Kimley Horn project engineer, explained the legal and technical basis for the proposed charges.

The proposal would establish two fee districts—"Panama City proper" and "Panama City North"—that mirror planning boundaries in the city's comprehensive plan. The draft calculates fees by estimating new trips generated by development, multiplying by local trip length data and the cost of added lane-mile capacity, then applying credits such as gas-tax and ad valorem credits. Kimley Horn showed sample impacts: per-unit residential charges in several size tiers (examples discussed in the workshop averaged roughly $4,000 per…