“Not for sale”: Protests flare up outside Honeymoon Island State Park on the third day

The message from the more than 200 people who gathered outside the entrance to Honeymoon Island State Park on Tuesday was clear: Florida’s state parks are not for sale.

It was the third day of protests outside Florida’s busiest state park after the Florida Department of Environmental Protection unveiled plans last week for major new construction at nine parks, including golf courses, two hotels, cabins, pickleball courts and more.

While the groups behind the golf course plans have backed down, the state’s environmental regulators have shown no signs of backing down from their sweeping, statewide initiative, which has sparked fierce bipartisan opposition.

On Honeymoon Island, the state wants to pave 660 square meters of space for four pickleball courts.

“I don’t know anyone who moves to our state because of our concrete and asphalt,” said Jeff Gow, a Dunedin city commissioner.

He told the crowd of cheering protesters he was dismayed to learn Monday from a Tampa Bay Times report that the state had secretly given more than 300 acres of national forest to a luxury golf course company in a land swap.

Instead of investing in pickleball courts, Gow said the state should consider funding initiatives the public wants for Honeymoon Island: kayak docks, mangrove trails and perhaps an observation tower on Caladesi Island.

“We should talk about these kinds of amenities,” he said.

Spokespeople for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have not answered questions from the Times about the controversy since Sunday. Spokespeople for Gov. Ron DeSantis have not answered questions since Thursday. While the state agency initially defended the proposal online, it has since gone quiet as opposition continues to grow across the state.

On Saturday, the Times reported that a nonprofit veterans group, Folds of Honor, had previously pitched the idea of ​​building a golf course on the grounds of Jonathan Dickinson State Park to a state senator and a Martin County commissioner. Both told the nonprofit’s staff that it was a bad idea. In April, the group’s founder, Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, met one-on-one with DeSantis. That was the day before the annual Masters golf tournament began.

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Kevin Reilly, 67, appears to be the target audience for the state’s plan to build pickleball courts in at least seven state parks. He plays the sport several times a week, lives just minutes away and visits the park weekly. But even Reilly said he opposes the plan for the courts.

“I play pickleball at the YMCA all the time. And that’s where the courts belong,” Reilly said. His shirt was soaked with sweat after hiking five miles around the park Tuesday morning, but he didn’t want to miss the protest. “I come here to enjoy nature, and we need to keep it that way: nature.”

Several statewide protests took place simultaneously at 2 p.m. Tuesday and were originally scheduled to take place at that time an hour before the state’s parallel, hour-long, in-person-only meetings on the proposed changes. Faced with a wave of outrage and accusations that Floridians were not given enough time for public feedback, the agency has postponed its meetings until next week.

If the Florida agency wants to comply with state law and stay on time, it must announce new dates and locations for meetings this week to accommodate the thousands of people expected to show up to voice their concerns about the plans.

Lauren Gay, a 43-year-old Wesley Chapel blogger and podcaster nicknamed “Outdoorsy Diva,” said when she first heard about the plan, she was not only “deeply concerned” but “also, frankly, pissed off.”

Gay’s mission is to inspire black women and people of color to step out of their comfort zone to seek out new experiences, use nature as therapy and engage in outdoor recreation. Data collected by the National Park Service in 2018 showed that less than 1% of visitors were black and less than 1% were Asian and Latino park visitors. Gay is trying to change that through her advocacy, she said.

Since then, she has shared updates on the park saga on her social media accounts, citing the Times’ reporting and urging her readers to bring their concerns to lawmakers.

Standing behind a lectern, with dozens of people holding signs behind them, Gay denounced the secrecy surrounding the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s plans for state parks.

“If you had to do it in secret, then we already know everything we need to know,” Gay told the cheering crowd.