'Not for sale:' Third day of protests flare up outside Honeymoon Island State Park

[Zorro]

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

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

While the groups behind the golf course plan have backed down, state environmental regulators have not indicated that they are abandoning their sweeping statewide initiative that has unleashed a flurry of bipartisan opposition.

At Honeymoon Island, the state wants to pave 7,200 square feet for four pickleball courts.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2024/08/27/not-sale-third-day-protests-erupt-outside-honeymoon-island-state-park/

[rzemanfl]

1. I live a couple of miles away and did not know this. K & R n/t

[ms liberty]

2. It is an insane idea to put pickleball courts on Honeymoon Island.

Goddess I hate those people.

[onethatcares]

3. the way it works

is if they develop that 7200 sq ft of park land they then use that development as justification to develop more. They're sneaky bastages.

7200 sq ft doesn't seem like much, basically 1 1/2 residential building lots

[Timeflyer]

4. FL GOP city and county politicians are trying to do the same thing on their levels to local parks. Fighting them

while they hold a supermajority here is exhausting. Hoping for change in November.

[snowybirdie]

5. The pickleball craze

will fade. They are taking out golf courses and tennis courts here as people change their sports habits. So what will the state do when people stop playing pickleball? The habitat will already be ruined and the citizens of Florida will be screwed again.

[onethatcares]

6. please become aware

it's not a matter of changing sports habits. It's a matter of taking the commons. Once development begins, be it a parking lot, or a paved trailhead , the justification for using more of the "undeveloped land' becomes a 'well, we've already had no problem with what we've done' meme. the money changers use their lawyers and their dollars and the undeveloped land has no chance.

[onethatcares]

7. this little tidbit really strikes a chord.

and

The deafening, bipartisan uproar over the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s plans to add golf courses, hotels and more to nine state parks has rocked the state in the past week, causing one group behind the push to withdraw its proposal for Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County.

But in June, months before those plans were unveiled, Florida’s top officials approved a transfer of 324 acres of state forest land to a Hernando County golf course company in an effort separate from the Florida environmental agency’s current state parks initiative.

The company, Cabot Citrus OpCo LLC, already owns a luxury golf resort with several rolling emerald courses in Brooksville directly adjacent to the Withlacoochee State Forest parcel. It’s the first American resort run by Cabot, a Canadian luxury golf course developer with courses from Bordeaux, France, to the Scottish Highlands to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. On its website, the company promises players in Brooksville that they’ll be able to tee off among “pristine natural beauty.”

The company has also signaled it’s expanding: Cabot Citrus Farms will soon have a sporting club and real estate for purchase, starting just under $1.8 million, its website states.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, acting as the Florida Cabinet, approved the swap of 324 acres of the Withlacoochee State Forest on June 12 after no discussion. The move granted the state permission to determine that the land is “no longer needed for conservation purposes.”

https://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/2024/08/26/desantis-state-park-golf-course-land-swap-withlacoochee-forest-brooksville-cabot/

Notice the names in the "acting cabinet" , they just take what they want and dare the citizens to stop them. this is the group that approved the transfer
and if you watched the govs press conference this afternoon, 8/29/24 you'll see that he's pissed to the maximus that the citizens told him to keep his fucking hands off our parks.

WAY TO GO FLORIDA