TALLAHASSEE — Some Republican lawmakers criticize a controversial proposal Add lodges, pickleball courts and golf courses to state parks, while Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office on Thursday defended the idea of ​​making the sites more “visitor-friendly.”

On Monday, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement:

“Due to overwhelming interest in the 2024-25 Great Outdoors Initiative, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is seeking new venues to accommodate the public. We want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to participate.”

“Public participation is critical to DEP’s decision-making. To collect feedback on your favorite state parks, we have created a special webpage for further suggestions.”

“New meeting dates will be announced shortly. Meetings are expected to take place during the week of September 2, 2024.”

The earlier story follows:

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced the proposal, called the Great Outdoors Initiative, and said eight meetings will be held Tuesday to review management plans for nine parks from Miami-Dade County to the Panhandle.

Environmental groups immediately criticized the initiative and were supported on Thursday by Republican lawmakers, including Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, who is one of the main proponents of creating a statewide wildlife corridor.

“We have worked hard to improve our state parks with the goal of protecting and preserving natural habitats and increasing access to passive recreational activities such as hiking, biking or canoeing,” Passidomo, R-Naples, said on the social media site X. “Our vision did not include the addition of golf courses and hotels, which I believe are incompatible with the peaceful and tranquil enjoyment of nature. I am open to other ideas, but based on what I currently know, the proposal should not be pursued in its current form.”

Senator Jay Trumbull, a Republican from Panama City whose northwest Florida district includes three of the affected state parks, called the proposal “unnecessary development.”

The initiative proposes a lodge with up to 350 rooms, as well as four pickleball courts and a disc golf course at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Walton County. Plans for Camp Helen State Park in Bay County and Grayton Beach State Park in Walton County each call for the construction of 10 cabins. Camp Helen State Park could also get a “glamping” area. Glamping is essentially a combination of the words “glamorous” and “camping.”

“I strongly oppose the proposed expansion of state parks to include golf courses and related facilities in our state parks, particularly at Camp Helen, Topsail Hill Preserve and Grayton Beach State Parks, which were affected by the first expansion and are of tremendous importance to our district,” Trumbull wrote. “Our state parks should not compete with private businesses for lodging or other commercial facilities.”

But DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said there will be “multiple phases” of public discussion to get feedback. He said the proposed changes may not all be approved and the Department of Environmental Protection is looking for ways to make the parks “more visitor-friendly.”

“Teddy Roosevelt believed that public parks serve the welfare and enjoyment of the people, and we agree with him,” Redfern said in a statement. “No government has done more than we have to preserve Florida’s natural resources, create conservation areas and keep our environment pristine. But it’s high time we made public lands more accessible to the public.”

DeSantis, an avid golfer, boasted about his environmental record during an appearance in Titusville on Thursday.

“We’ve done more in our tenure in terms of restoring the Everglades and improving water quality. What we’re doing with the Indian River Lagoon, nobody has ever done. This is historic,” DeSantis said. “We’ve also done things to support beach replenishment. All these different things. And we’ve made this massive increase in conservation and we have this huge Florida Wildlife Corridor that we’ve created in the center of our state, which has never been done before.”

But groups such as 1000 Friends of Florida, Friends of the Everglades and Vote Water urged their members to voice their opposition to the proposal and attend meetings on Tuesday.

Republican Rep. Adam Anderson of Palm Harbor issued a statement saying the proposal to add up to four pickleball courts to Honeymoon Island State Park in Pinellas County is “not just foolhardy – it’s wrong.”

“These actions could exacerbate existing environmental problems, harm our sensitive coastlines and estuaries, and increase the likelihood of red tides in the Gulf (of Mexico),” Anderson said.

Republican Agriculture Secretary Wilton Simpson called for caution when “building infrastructure in state parks.”

Nicklaus Companies, a golf course design firm that was involved when a similar proposal was briefly presented to Congress in 2011, also sought to distance itself from the new plan.

“Nicklaus Companies and Nicklaus Design only learned of these proposed changes to our state parks through news reports and are not involved in the current proposals,” Nicklaus Companies said in a statement. “A previous proposal by the legislature in 2011 was rejected in light of understandable environmental and community concerns. In any event, such concerns should be addressed in an open and public process.”

The state’s proposal calls for a golf course at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County.

The initiative also proposes 10 additional cabins, four pickleball courts and a disc golf course at Oleta River State Park in Miami-Dade County, a lodge with up to 350 rooms at Anastasia State Park in St. Johns County, four pickleball courts at Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park in Broward County, and a disc golf course and up to four pickleball courts at Hillsborough River State Park in Hillsborough County.