Governor DeSantis’ “Great” Plan to Turn Florida Public Park Land Into Pickleball Courts, Golf Courses, 350 Room Resorts & More
On August 19, 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Department of Environmental Protection announced the “Great Outdoors Initiative,” which by its name might sound like a positive (or as the title suggests “great”) measure but, as they say, the devil is in the details. The Governor’s “Great” plan seeks to add several different “amenities” such as pickleball courts, disc golf courses, 350 room lodges, and even an entire 18-hole golf course and clubhouse to what are currently beautifully natural State Parks designed to protect Florida’s fragile environments. You can read about the Governor’s “great” plan here.
Needless to say, adding a golf course or pickleball courts to old-growth mangrove forests that protect our shorelines from storm surge and rising seas, as just one example, is not an environmentally sound idea. And while I can’t say I am surprised, what with Florida’s Governor recently signing the “Don’t Say Climate Change” bill that outlaws phrases such as “climate change” and “greenhouse gases” from much of the state’s legislation, amongst other draconian steps, developing Florida’s limited natural public environment into golf courses and pickleball courts sounds like fiction from a Carl Hiaasen novel, but, like much of that author’s incredible work, is rooted in short sighted reality where nature is nearly always paved over for profit.
If you believe that protecting our State Parks and keeping them natural is more important than developing resorts, golf courses, and really much of anything else on them then I hope you will join me and my friends at the University of Miami Environmental Law Society by signing a letter of protest that we will be sending to Governor DeSantis opposing his “Great Outdoors Initiative.” Here’s the text of the letter and you can sign it by clicking here.
