Bill seeks trails and cabins, not pickleball courts and hotels, for Florida state parks

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state's environmental agency faced bipartisan backlash over a proposal to develop golf courses, pickleball courts and hotels at state parks. Now, a Republican lawmaker wants to make sure those ideas are squashed for good.

Sen. Gayle Harrell filed a bill Wednesday that would focus recreation at state parks on trails rather than courts and cabins instead of hotels. The bill would also require more public notice and ability to comment on park projects after the Department of Environmental Protection tried to quietly go forward with plans for the “Great Outdoors Initiative” in August.

The department had planned a single hour of public hearings near the nine affected parks. Opposition to the initiative transcended party lines, as top Republican legislative leaders and members of Congress, including U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, raised questions, along with Democrats and environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the Cleo Institute.

Harrell's bill would ban golf courses, tennis courts, pickleball courts, ball fields and similar sporting facilities at state parks in favor of “conservation-based public outdoor recreational uses" like hiking, boating, camping, swimming, kayaking and bird-watching.

It would also prohibit the construction of overnight facilities larger than a cabin that sleeps six.

DeSantis eventually backed off the development plans for parks.