Following protests, DeSantis says plan to develop state parks is ‘going back to the drawing board’

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that a controversial proposal by his administration to develop golf courses, pickleball courts and hotels at state parks is “going back to the drawing board.”

Questioned by reporters Wednesday, DeSantis worked to distance himself from the plan, which prompted hundreds of protesters to gather at the parks and sparked rare bipartisan opposition, including from Florida’s Republican U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.

“If people don’t want improvements, then don’t do it,” DeSantis said. “They’re not doing anything this year. They’re going to go back and basically listen to folks.”

The Republican governor’s Department of Environmental Protection unveiled the plans for the “Great Outdoors Initiative” last week and had planned a single hour of public hearings near the nine affected parks. Amid growing outcry, a golf course proposal at one park was abandoned, and the agency delayed hearings until at least next week — if they happen at all.

The plan for golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in southeast Florida was scrapped even before the governor’s statements Wednesday. The main proponent of the development, a nonprofit called Tuskegee Dunes Foundation, backed out of the plan over the weekend.

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