Panama City passes ordinance allowing open alcoholic beverages in downtown district

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – The Panama City Commission passed an ordinance Tuesday that would allow individuals to carry open alcoholic beverages within a certain location and time of week downtown.

The ordinance creates a downtown “social district” that permits anyone 21 years and older to walk in certain parts of the community with alcoholic beverages on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The proposal will sunset in May 2024 in order to be determined if the policy is worth renewing.

The ordinance passed 4-1 with Mayor Michael Rohan voting against it.

”I still don’t like the idea of open containers all over downtown,” Rohan said during the Tuesday meeting. “I just think there’s more bad than good.”

He added that he did appreciate what the Downtown Improvement Board had done to limit the ordinance through the sunset clause and the times within the week and day it is in effect.

Commissioner Brian Grainger expressed why he supported the ordinance and re-emphasized why he believed it would not lead to increased cases of public drunken behavior.

”From a logical standpoint, thinking through this, if somebody is publicly drunk and intoxicated, that’s still illegal,” Grainger said.

He also said he liked the fact that the sunset provision allows for the commission to quickly end the ordinance if the social district tuned into “Sodom and Gomorrah.”

”Personally, when I look at it and I think about what the citizens of my ward would ultimately want to have happen in this area, I look at the economics of it,” Grainger said. “I look at what has been done in other areas. I don’t think this is going to turn into the spring break debacle that the beach area struggled with for many years.”

Several members of the public expressed their opinions on both sides of the issue.

Citizens who were against the ordinance blamed the board for giving alcoholics a “weapon” that they will be able to wield in the social district and that the city will be opening themselves up to “lawsuits at a rate that’s unprecedented” for the community.

Another Panama City resident asked the board to factor in what effects the social district may have on children.

One citizen, who was in favor of the ordinance, talked about how someone is able to purchase an alcoholic beverage and walk around a family-friendly environment such as Walt Disney Word.

Other community members spoke on the the “economic boom” that the ordinance would provide.

One resident who was against the ordinance added that most people who are carrying an open alcoholic beverage will not be in walking distance to their home. Instead they’ll potentially be entering a vehicle.

“If you live in Lynn Haven and your loved one gets run over, your grandchild gets killed, how much business did you just celebrate for your community,” the resident asked. “You just gave up your grandchild in a car wreck because someone walked around downtown with an open container.”

Commissioner Jenna Flint Haligas sympathized with the people who had concerns about drunken behavior and the potential to foster a dangerous downtown environment.

”I can’t imagine there’s a single person up here that would want some drunkard [and] people acting insane,” Haligas said.

She said that the commission can’t predict if all of the terrible concerns would ever become a reality for the city.

”I think we’ve done little things, like when we do even Fourth of July, when we do little things we see that we don’t have this massive fearful problem,” she said.