Our former St. Johns County Congressman, RONALD DION DeSANTIS, was insouciant when I spoke to him in 2014 about preserving our history and nature here in St. Augustine. His appointee, Commissioner ROY ALYRE ALAIMO, JR.,, was equally uninterested, and uninsinteresting. Good work by The Washington Post:
DeSantis’s plan to bring golf to protected Florida parks faces pushback
The DeSantis administration announced plans this week to build hotel rooms, golf courses, and pickleball courts in nine of Florida’s most prized parks.
New lodges with space for hundreds of guests would be constructed at Anastasia State Park near St. Augustine and Topsail Hill Preserve in the Panhandle. The latter has sand dunes that the state park service describes as “especially remarkable because they are untouched by development.”
“The park’s beaches are among the best in the world,” the state park website says. “Clean white sand and clear blue water as far as the eye can see.”
The DeSantis administration’s plan promises to “take the visitor experience to the next level” with the additional sports and lodging opportunities. The Department of Environmental Protection wrote on X that the goal is to “increase public access, recreation & lodging” The division said the changes could be done in a way to “minimize habitat impacts,” and that the lodges wouldn’t be unlike others at major national parks.
“Pickleball continues to be the fastest growing sport in the U.S.,” the department wrote. “So why not add it to one of our most visited parks?”
Opponents say the state parks are already accessible and are meant to preserve and protect Florida’s natural spaces. More than 59,000 people within 24 hours signed a Change.org petition to halt the plan for Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Even some members of DeSantis’s own party were expressing concern. The Tampa Bay Times was the first to report on the plans.
“Public lands should be enjoyed and protected, but we have to be really careful when we talk about building infrastructure on state parks,” Florida Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Commissioner Wilton Simpson, (R), said in a statement. “Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should do it.”
The plan must be approved by the Acquisition and Restoration Council, a committee of 10 people that includes four appointees of the governor. Meetings to gather input are scheduled for Tuesday in six cities across the state that will happen at the same time and last only an hour, with no opportunities to participate virtually.
Florida's Jonathan Dickinson State Park, about 25 miles north of West Palm Beach, where three proposed golf courses would cover more than 500 acres. (Eric Haster/Tcpalm/Imagn Content Services, LLC)
State Rep. Toby Overdorf (R) said that an “overwhelming number of people” had reached out to voice their concerns about the plans for Jonathan Dickinson State Park, where three golf courses would cover more than 500 acres. He said he would request that the Department of Environmental Protection reschedule the meetings to larger venues during evening hours so more people could participate.
Your voices and concerns deserve to be heard,” Overdorf said in a tweet.
State Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R) noted on X that the goal of state parks is to protect and preserve natural habitats while allowing passive access.
“Our vision did not contemplate the addition of golf courses and hotels, which in my view are not in line with the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of nature,” she wrote.
DeSantis hasn’t commented on the proposal. His spokesman said Thursday that the state’s environmental agency is looking for ways to make the parks “more visitor-friendly.”
“No administration has done more than we have to conserve Florida’s natural resources, grow conservation lands, and keep our environment pristine,” Jeremy Redfern said in a statement. “But it’s high time we made public lands more accessible to the public.”
Though the plan does not require the state legislature’s approval, lawmakers could try to stop it by withdrawing funding. Some legislators were already vowing to act if the council gives the proposal a final green light.
“This just flies in the face of the spirit of public parks,” said state Rep. Lindsay Cross, a Democrat from St. Petersburg. “It’s not honoring our outdoors at all, and I’m confident that this plan will go down in flames.”
Environmentalists were aghast at the entire plan, and said it felt contradictory to resilience efforts by the state designed to address sea level rise and extreme weather. Some were especially upset by the proposal to build a hotel at Topsail Hill Preserve in the Panhandle.
“That one is really like a dagger in the heart,” said Clay Henderson, an environmental lawyer and author of “Forces of Nature,” a book about Florida’s environmental history. “It is generally regarded as one of the best beaches in the world. The idea of putting up a 350-unit lodge there is just ridiculous.”
Henderson said Florida’s state park system is regarded as one of the best in the country.
“This goes to the whole concept of, what are our state parks supposed to be? And for all these years, they have been branded as the ‘real Florida,’” Henderson said. “If you look at a place like Jonathan Dickinson, it’s like a museum piece of what was here before we ditched and drained and paved over everything else in South Florida.”
Not everyone likes golf see? They don't think about the average joe. That and it takes up a lot of land. Republicans do a lot of shit just to piss people off.
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