Panama City's voluntary buyout program for homeowners in flood-prone area sees 1st sellers
PANAMA CITY — Thursday was a fresh start for Linda York as she closed on her home on Cincinnati Avenue, making her the first home seller of Panama City’s Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Program.
The voluntary home buyout program was created to reduce the risk posed by future disasters through the purchase of residential property in high-risk flood areas. Many properties on Lake and Cincinnati avenues in St. Andrews have repetitively flooded because of heavy rains, which worsened after Hurricane Michael damaged the area.
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York said her home flooded four times since 2013 and she had to refurbish her damaged property every time. Although York said she’s glad she’s in a better environment where she doesn’t have to worry about flooding, she wishes she could’ve stayed in the home she’s lived in since 2002.
“It’s been a long journey for everyone, but I had a lot of support through this process,” York said. “If I had my preference, I’d still like to live there. But being the way it is, I had to leave. I just got tired of the flooding and having to redo everything, so it felt good to sign those papers.”
Alejandro Rodriguez also sold his home to the city, as the second home seller in the program. While Rodriguez did not physically live there, he invested in a rental property on Cincinnati Avenue after Hurricane Michael but soon realized the nightmare of the flooding.
“It was really scary every time we had heavy rain in the area,” Rodriguez said. “I just didn’t want to deal with having people live there explaining why it was flooding. When the city approached us, it was just the easy way out, and I’m glad they are doing something about it.”
Funding is provided for Panama City’s Rebuild Florida Voluntary Home Buyout Program through the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery program offered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
DEO awarded Panama City $5 million to purchase 21 properties on Lake and Cincinnati avenues. The total purchase price for all properties based on the appraised fair market value by a certified appraiser is $3,991,000. The remaining funding will cover administrative costs, appraisals and demolition of the properties.
Commissioner Josh Street said the project has been in the works for more than two years, and he’s glad to see the first signs of progress.
“We can’t change the topography of the city, and this specific area is in a bowl. All the water from the surrounding neighborhoods just runs to this spot,” Street said. “Even though the city has more work to do with these properties, we’re glad to see the ones who closed today are able to get on to their next chapter in life.”
Street said the city anticipates a time consuming process, but once the remaining 19 homeowners have agreed to sell their homes, the properties will be demolished and developed into a stormwater facility.
“We’re just so thankful for all the people that have been patient through the process and all the homeowners that have walked through this process, and we really are looking forward to being able to get across this finish line,” Street said.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: 2 Panama City residents have sold their homes in city's buyout program
