Panama City, Pensacola, and Fort Walton Beach are located along the coast 

 where there is a potential for OCS oil and gas development. Initial phases of 

 oil and gas exploration may be more dependent on harbor depth and facilities 

 than on the size of the population. Shallow harbor depths and facilities may 

 limit the location of land-based OCS oil and gas activities to Pensacola, 

 Panama City, Port St. Joe in Gulf County, and perhaps Carabelle in Franklin 

 County. 



Before 1970, residential areas spread northward from Pensacola in Escam- 

 bia County into much of the rest of the county and have extended far enough to 

 almost join Milton in Santa Rosa County (Figure 2). Other residential expan- 

 sion is evident in the northern part of Escambia County. Data for years after 

 1970 are not available. 



Other residential development was (and still is) either clustered around 

 Fort Walton Beach (Figure 3), Panama City (Figure 4), along the coastline, and 

 along corridors parallel to U.S. Routes 20 and 90. 



Many of the residential units along the coast were developed primarily to 

 serve the vacation-home market. In most parts of Florida it is unlikely that 

 vacation units would be available to meet other demands, such as might be 

 associated with the housing needs of OCS development-related workers. But in 

 Northwest Florida, vacation units in winter could be rented to people from the 

 oil companies and suppliers. 



TRENDS FOR SPECIFIC TYPES OF DEVELOPMENT 



Unlike south and central Florida where there are relatively heavy concen- 

 trations of apartments, condominiums, cooperatives and time-sharing (interval) 

 units, Northwest Florida is primarily an area of single family homes. Apart- 

 ments, condominiums, and other multi-family dwellings there are generally 

 found only in the larger cities or along the beaches. This section on resi- 

 dential development discusses the general characteristics of major types of 

 residences. 



Detached Single-family Dwellings 



The difference between the percentages of single-family and multi-family 

 dwelling units in Northwest Florida and other areas of Florida may be made by 

 comparing Northwest Florida with Southwest Florida (from Pasco County in the 

 north to Monroe County in the south). In 1975-79, the seven Northwest Florida 

 counties issued 18,476 building permits of which 80% were detached single- 

 family dwellings, whereas in Southwest Florida, 174,304 permits (66% single 

 family) were issued. The rate of residential building in Northwest Florida, 

 heavily skewed toward single-family units, is only about one-tenth that of 

 Southwest Florida. 



Insofar as Northwest Florida is concerned. Bay and Escambia Counties, 

 which are the most urbanized counties, had the lowest percentage (about 77%) 

 of building permits issued for detached single-family dwelling units 

 (Table 3). In 1975-79 in Okaloosa County, 87% of the building permits issued 

 were for single-family units. The percentage of permits issued for single- 

 family units in the remaining four counties ranged from 84% in Franklin 

 County to 100% in Gulf County. The average for Northwest Florida was 80%. 



59 



