Plans to Add Pickleball Courts, Golf Courses to Florida State Parks on Hold

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attends the drivers meeting prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Feb. 19, 2024. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Recently unveiled plans to add pickleball courts and golf courses to state parks in Florida are on hold after criticism from a number of prominent former and current officials, the Florida agency that issued the plans confirmed on Aug. 29.

“At the governor’s direction and following feedback from the public, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has withdrawn all remaining proposed amendments to state parks,” a spokeswoman with the agency told The Epoch Times in an email. “We will shift to discussions with our local park managers and will revisit any park improvements, if needed, next year.”

The confirmation came after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters in an unrelated briefing on Wednesday that he had not approved the plans.

“I'd rather not spend any money on this—if people don’t want improvements, then don’t do it,” DeSantis said. He added later: “They’re not doing anything this year. They’re going to go back and basically listen to folks. A lot of that stuff was just half-baked and was not ready for primetime.”

The governor, whose office last week defended the plans as making parks “more accessible to the public,” was speaking for the first time about what the Florida Department of Environmental Protection dubbed the Great Outdoors Initiative.

The department on Aug. 19 announced plans under the initiative to expand the number of campsites, cabins, and lodges at state parks and add new pickleball courts and disc golf and golf courses.

Details of proposed improvements at each park were soon leaked, after which they were released by the agency.

The draft plan for Oleta River State Park, for example, states that the department would add up to 10 cabins, create up to four pickleball courts, and develop a disc golf course. Officials also proposed creating a golf course at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.

The plans were developed based on requests from Florida residents, DeSantis said.

A number of former and current officials had spoken out about facets of the proposals, including Nikki Fried, chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party.

“Ron DeSantis has lost his damn mind if he thinks Floridians are just going to sit back and let him bulldoze our beautiful state parks,” Fried, who lost to DeSantis in the 2022 gubernatorial race, said in a statement. “The Florida Democratic Party stands with all Floridians in the fight to save our parks.”

Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) said in a video statement that the proposal to put a golf course in Jonathan Dickinson State Park would happen “over my dead body.”

Mast and Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in a letter to DeSantis and other officials that the scheduled hour-long meeting regarding the plan at that park was not long enough to consider the proposal, especially considering members of the Acquisition and Restoration Council, the body that ultimately would vote on the plan, would not be attending the meeting. They said that additional meetings should be held so members of the public could voice concerns.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection had previously defended the proposals, writing in one post that the course at Jonathan Dickinson State Park would be done “in a way that will minimize habitat impacts and leverage already-disturbed areas.”

The charitable organization Tuskegee Dunes Foundation took credit for the proposal and said over the weekend it was withdrawing its support due to the pushback.

Friends of the Everglades said it agreed with the governor’s choice to pause the plans.

“After eight days of public outrage, DeSantis was forced to back off plans to develop nine Florida state parks—a huge credit to all the people who united in opposition,“ Eve Samples, executive director of the organization, said in a statement. ”That said, we won’t rest easy until the so-called Great Outdoors Initiative is completely dead. We will remain vigilant in defense of Florida’s natural lands, water, and wildlife.”