In the News

By Alex Harris and Ana Ceballos

Gov. Ron DeSantis is withdrawing — at least for now — plans from his administration to add golf courses, pickleball courts and 350-room hotels to Florida state parks after the proposal faced intense public and political backlash. 

“They’re going back to the drawing board,” DeSantis said at a press conference Wednesday in his first remarks since the state’s plans became public last week. “I’d rather not spend any money on this. If people don’t want improvements then we won’t do them.” 

The “Great Outdoors Initiative,” announced last week by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, was instantly met with opposition from leading elected Republicans and Floridians across the state. The proposal drew hundreds of protesters at parks across the state and garnered hundreds of thousands of signatures on petitions opposing the plan. 

Most notably, it drew the ire of some of the most influential members of his own party in Tallahassee. Soon after the proposal was publicized, Republican elected officials in congress, the legislature and the cabinet lined up against the plans, which in itself was a rare showing against a DeSantis administration idea. 

While the governor’s office and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have previously defended the plans, DeSantis suggested on Wednesday that the proposal was a “half-baked idea” that had never received his approval.

“This is something that was leaked. It was not approved by me, I never saw that,” DeSantis said. “A lot of that stuff was half-baked and was not ready for prime time. It was intentionally leaked to a left-wing group to try and create a narrative.”

After the governor disavowed the proposal on Wednesday, South Florida congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz publicly called for an investigation into the source of the idea. 

“We need DeSantis to release all records on this greedy land grab, plus an IG investigation into who really backed it,” she tweeted. 

‘A PHONY NARRATIVE’ 

Since he came into office in 2019, DeSantis has tried to build a reputation as a governor who has fought to conserve natural spaces. The plans were leaked last week, he said, to create a “phony narrative” against his record. 

“We’re not getting into the golf course business in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said. He added that if improvements are made in state parks, he would not like to see it done in “any green spaces.” 

“Nothing has been approved. They’re going to go back and listen to folks,” DeSantis said.

It was also a change of tone from the administration. On Thursday, after backlash began to brew against the plans, DeSantis’ office released a statement defending the leaked proposal. 

“Teddy Roosevelt believed that public parks were for the benefit and enjoyment of the people, and we agree with him,” DeSantis’ press secretary Jeremy Redfern said in a statement. “No administration has done more than we have to conserve Florida’s natural resources, grow conservation lands, and keep our environment pristine. But it’s high time we made public lands more accessible to the public.”

In addition to the governor’s office statement, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection — which is part of the DeSantis administration — publicly defended the plans in social media posts. The state agency characterized the plans as a developed proposal. By comparison, DeSantis called it a “half-baked” idea that was not ready for prime time. 

Despite DeSantis’ characterization of the plans, the state agency had scheduled public hearings across the state to get input from community members for earlier this week. Those public hearings were canceled amid fierce criticism and protests from the public, lawmakers and environmental groups. 

After DeSantis’ comments on Wednesday, some of those same environmental groups declared victory, at least, temporarily. 

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

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article291595260.html#storylink=cpy