A group of local and state dignitaries lined up Thursday to ceremonially break ground on the new Panama City-Bay County International airport in West Bay. About 1,000 people turned out for the event.

“There is a great story being written today, a story of balance” between the environment and economic development, Draper said. “Such a story has never been written on the landscape as it is today.”

Tom Morgan, president of St. Joe’s West Florida region, agreed.

“The airport covers two huge interests: economic development … and ecotourism,” Morgan said. “Ecotourism has swept the country, and there isn’t anything like this (conservation area) in West Florida.”

In a poignant moment of the ceremony, West Bay Elementary School fifth-grader Victoria Whitmire, 10, presented Draper with a 2-foot-long leaf pine seedling on behalf of her school.

“Mr. Audubon, will you take this tree and protect it for us?” she asked.

Past and future

Coming after nearly a decade of planning, debate, bureaucracy, controversy and lawsuits, the groundbreaking brought a major boost in morale to area business leaders and government officials who have seen the county’s booming real estate market falter during the last two years. State Rep. Marti Coley, RMarianna, who served as co-master of ceremonies along with state Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Panama City, called the planned airport “a dynamic economic development platform” for the entire region.

Site preparation contractor Phoenix Construction is expected to begin land-clearing and preparation immediately, with construction of the airport’s first phase taking about 30 months. The facility will include an 8,400-foot main runway and 5,000-foot crosswind runway and terminal facilities on a 1,300-acre segment of the 4,000-acre site.