Florida Department of Environmental Protection reschedules public meetings about development at state parks

It’s been a hell of a week for Florida environmentalists—but state officials are feeling the heat, too.

On Friday afternoon, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) cited “overwhelming interest with the 2024-25 Great Outdoors Initiative” in a decision to reschedule public comment about proposed development at state parks.

Originally scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 27 at sites across the state, DEP wrote on social media that, “New meeting dates will be announced soon, with meetings expected the week of Sept. 2, 2024.” Until DEP announces new meeting details, it has created a webpage to gather feedback.

On Friday morning, hours before DEP’s change of plans, Ryan Smart—Executive Director of Florida Springs Council—told WMNF public affairs program The Skinny that he's been impressed with the reaction from the environmental community.

"One thing about proposals like this is it affects everyone. Even if you don't live by one of these parks, everyone in Florida has probably had an experience at a state park, and many of them at these state parks," Smart—a water policy expert and the only lobbyist in Tallahassee whose sole focus is the protection of Florida's springs and springfed waterways—added.

DEP has spent the last 72 hours more or less putting out fires after announcing the DeSantis administration’s proposals for nine state parks.

Hillsborough River State Park and Honeymoon Island in Tampa Bay are among the sites where the state proposes building pickleball and disc golf courses. Parks north of the Bay area are targeted for more extreme development.

At Anastasia State Park in St. Johns County, proposals, in part, call for not just pickleball and disc golf, but a 350-room hotel. A “lodge” of the same size is proposed at the panhandle’s Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. Martin County’s Jonathan Dickinson State Park is where the state wants to build three golf courses.
Environmentalists have decried the proposals to interfere with lands the state acquired in the name of preservation. They also questioned the state’s decision to only give the public six days to prepare for public comment. Eric Draper, director of Florida Park Service from 2017-2021 told Max Chesnes and Romy Ellenbogen that the DEP might be operating outside of the legal process and the park systems own manual as it moves to update park management plans.

Smart said his world’s been hectic since the state’s announcement, but again pointed to the public's advocacy as a bright spot.

"What we've seen is local advocates—not not just people like me who are paid to do this—by the tens of thousands reaching out to their legislators, to Gov. DeSantis, to Secretary Shawn Hamilton at the Department of Environment Protection and saying, 'This is a terrible idea. It's terrible policy, a terrible process, and it needs to be stopped,'" he said.

“This was a terrible proposal that was really dropped on Florida at the last minute,” Smart added.

He said past efforts to simply work on a tram route at Ichetucknee Springs State Park north of Gainesville went through months of public comment. Allowing less than a week before public comment, Smart said, proves that state officials knew what they were doing was wrong.

"If we begin to develop the things that we have conserved, nothing will be conserved.”

tweet this

“They were trying to avoid this kind of public opposition, and they've really stepped in it with this one. Not only is the public opposed, but in the last 48 hours, we have seen many legislators from both sides of the aisle come out in strong opposition to this proposal,” he added.

On social media, Naples Republican and Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo referenced the hard work the state has taken to protect natural habitats while enhancing access to hiking, biking and canoeing.

“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. I am open to other ideas, but from what I know at this time, the proposal should not move forward in its current form,” she added.

Even the governor’s Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis expressed concern about the proposals.

In an email to this reporter yesterday, DeSantis Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern promised “multiple phases of public discussion to evaluate stakeholders' feedback.” He said DEP’s recommendations to make the parks “more visitor-friendly” are based on public input and proposals.

“... the proposals vary and may not all be approved. Finally, recommendations will be evaluated, and no final decisions will be made until the public comment and review process has been completed,” he added before invoking Teddy Roosevelt’s past comments about public parks being for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.

“And we agree with him. No administration has done more than we have to conserve Florida’s natural resources, grow conservation lands, and keep our environment pristine,” Redfern wrote. “But it's high time we made public lands more accessible to the public.”
The Florida State Parks Foundation said that last year more than 28 million people visited the system, generating $3.6 billion in direct economic impact on local economies throughout the state.

Smart dismissed the notion that the state park system has accessibility issues and lauded officials for working to improve trails in recent years.

“If they want to provide more opportunities for kayaking and canoeing, we're all about that,” Smart added. “We need to get people out in nature—they’re not going to want to protect something they don’t love. But what they're doing here is destroying nature.”

Others have argued that the space these proposed developments takes up is tiny when compared to the overall acreage of Florida’s State Parks System. Some say roadways pose more of a threat to natural Florida and the wildlife corridor, which consists of more than 18 million acres of connected public and private land up and down the state. (State figures say there are 813,000 acres in the parks; a January summary from the Florida Natural Areas Inventory says there are more than 1.1 million total acres of non-submerged state, federal and local conservation lands.)
Smart drew attention to the special nature of the land that the state has worked hard to purchase for preservation, adding, “These state parks, these are what belong to us."

Topsail—widely regarded as one of the most beautiful stretches of natural coastline in Florida—would look a lot different with a 350-room hotel on the property, Smart noted. He said Dickinson, where the state wants to build three golf courses, is some of the most important scrub habitat in the state. He also pointed to four gold medals earned by the state park system as proof that state conservation efforts are working.
The recognition, Smart said, is not because Florida developed its state parks.

“It's because we've kept them in their natural state,” Smart added. “What do you do with the critters and the habitat and the plants that are only where those golf courses are going to go? What do you do with those beaches? What about the sea turtles? These are our most sensitive lands.”

Plus, he said, there are other places to put golf courses, hotels, pickleball, and disc golf. The state may have a lot of conservation land, but there is a whole lot more land outside of conservation areas.

“All of Florida is going to be developed, except for the stuff that we can conserve—that's just the truth,” he said. “So if we begin to develop the things that we have conserved, nothing will be conserved.”

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter