Commentary by Martin Dyckman, Florida Trident
In a masterpiece of spin and understatement, the DeSantis administration credited “overwhelming interest” for temporarily pausing a scheme to put golf courses, hotels and pickleball courts on nine of Florida’s pristine state parks.
“Overwhelming opposition” better describes the thunderous “Hell no!” Tallahassee was hearing from private citizens and public officials throughout the state. “(O)verwhelming disgust and hatred,” ventured Florida author Jeff VanderMeer in a post on X.
The secretive groups behind the plan heard the dissent loud and clear. In a release to the Florida Trident today (as well as a public statement on its website), the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation acknowledged it sponsored the plan to build on the park and has pulled out due to the public backlash.
“We have received clear feedback that Jonathan Dickinson State Park is the [sic] not the right location [for the golf courses],” the group wrote. “We did not understand the local community landscape and appreciate the clarity. We will not pursue building in the beloved [park].”
The foundation shares an Owasso, Oklahoma address with Folds of Honor, a nationally recognized charity that funds scholarships for the families of slain and disabled service members and, since 2002, first responders. Folds of Honor is also tied to golfing great Jack Nicklaus, who was part of a similar (failed) plan to put a golf course at Jonathan Dickinson several years ago. That group also dropped its current plans to develop the golf courses on Jonathan Dickinson, according to a tweet today by right-wing pundit Dan Bongino.
Tuskegee Dunes, which wrote that “serving God and Country is our daily goal,” retained two lobbyists in Tallahassee this year. One of them was Ryan Matthews, who served as interim secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) under Rick Scott, the last governor to eye any Florida parks for golf courses. So the plot thickens.
These are the latest blows to the heinous plan to develop Florida’s state parks and they follow even high-ranking Republican colleagues publicly telling Gov. Ron DeSantis what he may not be accustomed to hearing from them: No. Don’t do it.
Among the elected naysayers have been Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, U.S. Reps. Brian Mast and Matt Gaetz, and Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.
Florida’s most arrogant governor may finally have found limits to what he can pull off.
But don’t count on it.
The scheme is paused, not dead.
The DEP, which had announced a set of one-hour public hearings for next Tuesday, Aug. 27, abruptly postponed the hearings late Friday afternoon, most likely to the week of September 2.
It said it would be looking for larger venues to accommodate the mass turnouts that were looming despite the DEP’s tactic of scheduling the hearings for a weekday afternoon, with no Zoom or other remote access.
“You better book the Marlins Park…” advised another post on X.
Despite hearing no from almost everyone else, the DEP was still heartily promoting the scheme as late as Friday. The governor’s office has not disclaimed responsibility. The intent seems to implement the plan without legislation, perhaps by leasing sites to developers. The one certain result of that would be costly litigation.
If it goes through, the DEP should be renamed the Department of Environmental Prostitution.
Here’s what’s at stake:
The most drastic damage would be at Jonathan Dickinson, where two 18-hole courses and a nine-hole course, destroying more than 1,000 acres overall, would bracket the Brightline railroad, extinguish scrub habitat, and require the relocation of several buildings including a regional park office complex and the Hobe Mountain observation tower that stands atop an 86-foot dune.
There are already at least 28 golf courses in Martin County.
Next worst, in the magnitude of environmental desecration, would be Anastasia State Park at St. Augustine, where the the plan calls for a 350-room lodge—that’s a fancy word for hotel—a disc golf course and pickleball courts intruding on a marine hammock.
Third worst in magnitude of destruction: Topsail Hill Preserve in Walton County, with another 350-room lodge, disc golf, and pickleball.
Jonathan Dickinson and three other parks targeted by the DEP—Camp Helen, Grayton Beach and Topsail Hill—are part of the Florida Wildlife Corridor. That’s a special interest of Senate President Passidomo, R-Naples, who was one of the first officials to oppose the DEP scheme.
In addition to providing a safe environment for wildlife, the corridor is home to a variety of species that are “unique and considered rare, threatened or endangered,” according to the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation. Those include the “globally rare” coastal scrub at Dickinson and “vital coastal lakes and wetlands” at Topsail Hill Preserve. Imperiled animals include the Florida Scrub Jay and the Gopher Tortoise
“We have worked hard to improve our state parks with the goal of protecting and preserving natural habitats, and enhancing access to passive recreational activities like hiking, biking or canoeing,” Passidomo posted on X.
In choosing the adjective “passive,” Passidomo underscored the critical difference between the DeSantis plan and the actual mission of Florida’s national award-winning system of 175 state parks, nature preserves and historic sites.
On its own website, the DEP lists 14 examples of “resource-based” outdoor recreation that depend upon and only minimally disturb wilderness areas “natural and cultural environments that cannot be easily duplicated by man.”
“In contrast,” the document explains, “user‐oriented recreation” like golf, disc golf, and pickleball, which are included in the parks plan by the DEP, do not belong, by any stretch of imagination, in any of Florida’s parks.
In addition to replacing natural habitat, golf courses are prodigious users of water, fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides. According to a meme reposted by State Rep. Allison Tant, D-Tallahassee, there are already 1,265 golf courses in Florida.
Pickleball, while rapidly growing in popularity, is controversial for being noisier than tennis. The balls are plastic, not felt, the paddles are wooden or composite, not stringed, and the play is faster. The players tend to be louder as well.
The state parks have no business in that business, which should be left to municipal recreation departments.
As for hotels and motels, Florida already has more than 4,600 of them with nearly half a million rooms, according to Visit Florida, the state’s tourist marketing agency. Unlike some remote national parks like Grand Canyon, all of Florida’s parks are within an easy drive of a wide selection of commercial accommodations.
Nineteen Florida parks already have cabins for rent but only one park, Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, 30 miles south of Tallahassee, has a lodge. The DEP cites that as a precedent for building more, but it is and should remain one of a kind. The Wakulla Springs lodge is a historic structure, built almost a century ago, long before the state acquired the property to protect what is thought to be the world’s deepest and largest freshwater spring.
The DEP’s own online descriptions are some of the best reasons why the parks should be left alone. Phrases in quotations are by the DEP:
- Camp Helen State Park, in the Panhandle, borders Lake Powell, “the largest coastal dune lake in Florida,” according to the DEP.
- Grayton Beach State Park, at Santa Rosa Beach, ranks “among the most beautiful and pristine beaches in the United States. …Those who want to explore on foot have 4 miles of trails to traverse through a coastal forest where scrub oaks and magnolias are bent and twisted by salt winds.” In a notice posted June 20, the DEP said the park “frequently reaches capacity and may temporarily close.” It hardly needs a disc golf course and pickleball courts to enhance its popularity.
- Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine, targeted for a lodge, a disc golf course and pickleball courts, offers “more than 1,600 acres of unspoiled beaches, tidal marshes, maritime hammocks and ancient sand dunes.”
- Topsail Hill Preserve State Park—yes, “preserve” is in the name—is near Destin. Named for white quartz dunes that from a distance resemble a ship’s sails, the park boasts “a rare coastal ecosystem of freshwater dune lakes that teem with aquatic wildlife” and is refuge for 13 imperiled species. The DEP plan calls for a lodge, a disc golf course, and pickleball courts in the marine hammock.
- Hillsborough River State Park, near Tampa, is a “breathtaking oasis of natural and historic significance,” offering class II river rapids, “which are rare in Florida.” It’s targeted for a disc golf course and pickleball courts. According to the Pickleheads web site, Tampa has 134 pickleball courts, the most in Florida, at 27 locations.
- Oleta River State Park, in Miami-Dade County, offers 15 miles of off-road biking and paddling through “lush mangrove forests.” Visitors find it “difficult to believe” that it is only 30 minutes from downtown Miami. It’s another state park that “frequently reaches capacity, especially on weekends.” And yet the DeSantis administration thinks it needs a disc golf course and pickleball courts.
- Honeymoon Island State Park at Dunedin—where DeSantis grew up—has four miles of beachfront and a three-mile trail through “one of the last remaining virgin slash pine forests.” It offers visitors “an escape from the bustle of city life.” No pickleball courts belong there either.
- The Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, just south of Port Everglades, “is the last example of an undeveloped coastal ecosystem in Broward County.” It is named for two civil rights leaders who led wade-ins to desegregate South Florida beaches. Now, says the DEP, “the park is a popular location for swimming, fishing, boating, hiking, bicycling and picnicking, offering a haven where everyone can escape the hectic pace of the metropolis and reconnect with nature.” It’s no place for pickleball courts.
Gov. DeSantis’ outdoor taste runs more to golf than the nature-friendly recreation for which Florida’s state parks are nationally renowned and have four times been voted the nation’s best. He met his wife at a driving range. When he lamented that being governor was cutting into his tee times, a wealthy contributor, Moretz “Mori” Hosseini, chairman of the University of Florida Board of Trustees, gifted him with the loan of a golfing simulator said to be worth $28,000.
Any Florida governor should know that if there’s one thing Floridians of all ages and almost all political persuasions are wild about, it’s not golf. It’s not pickleball. It’s their state parks.
DeSantis’s GOP colleagues know that even if he doesn’t. They must know also how his scheme could cost them their supermajorities in the Legislature on Nov. 5.
Had DeSantis consulted Scott, his predecessor could have warned him off. In 2011, Scott had two legislators introduce a bill to have the Jack Nicklaus organization build golf courses at four parks—specifically including Dickinson—and hotels as well. The public reaction was so ferocious that the legislators sheepishly withdrew the legislation a week later.
“Floridians spoke very clearly over the past several days on this proposal, and they are the reason I’m in office,” said the House sponsor, then-Rep. Tom Rooney, R-West Palm Beach.
Floridians are speaking very clearly again. What they’re saying to DeSantis and the DEP ought to be unmistakable.
Don’t pause it.
Call it off.
This article first appeared on Florida Trident and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
