Florida law bans golf courses, resorts in state parks

When Florida lawmakers passed the State Parks Preservation Act this spring, they codified what many residents had already made clear: They didn’t want the state’s public parks transformed into private playgrounds.

Senate Bill 80 and House Bill 209 ban the construction of golf courses, hotels, pickleball courts and other resort-style amenities in Florida’s state parks. The legislation, which passed unanimously in the House and was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 23, also strengthens public oversight by requiring hearings on all updates to land management plans. In addition, individual management plans for parcels within state parks must now be developed and updated with input from designated advisory groups.

The sweeping changes come in response to public backlash over what many saw as a quietly advancing proposal to commercialize sensitive parklands.

That controversy erupted last year when the public learned of DeSantis’ “Great Outdoors Initiative,” a proposal that would have opened the door to building resorts and recreation facilities on environmentally sensitive lands, including coastal estuaries and rare scrub habitat.

The idea didn’t emerge overnight; a year before the plans became public, discussions had already begun. In 2023, Lt. Col. Dan Rooney, founder and CEO of the veterans nonprofit Folds of Honor, met with Rep. John Snyder of Stuart and later Sen. Gayle Harrell to discuss building three golf courses in Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County. The 11,500-acre park, which borders the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean, includes the Elsa Kimbell Environmental Education and Research Center and diverse habitats, such as mangroves, pine flatwoods and sand pine scrub. 

Rooney, accompanied by lobbyist Ryan Matthews — a former interim secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection under Gov. Rick Scott — proposed spreading the golf courses across 1,000 acres of protected land. Both lawmakers declined to sponsor legislation supporting the project, but the idea persisted.

The plans were kept under wraps until 2024, when James Gaddis, a state-employed cartographer, leaked a memo outlining the development plans. Concerned about its environmental implications and lack of transparency, Gaddis released the documents to the public. He was fired in August 2024.

The leak fueled widespread outrage. When a list of state parks targeted for potential development surfaced, protests broke out across Florida. While no parks in Southwest Florida were on that list, conservationists said it was only a matter of time.

“Development interests are always looking for new opportunities,” says Matt DePaolis, environmental policy director for the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. “This would have set a new precedent for how the state manages its lands. The proposed development in the parks was an attempt at redefining how we view our natural spaces and outdoor recreation.”

DePaolis noted that Collier County’s voter-approved Conservation Collier program, which sets aside tax money to purchase and preserve sensitive lands, likely helped shield the region from early development pressure. Still, many state-managed lands in Collier and Lee counties could have been vulnerable.

“Luckily, many of our conservation lands on Sanibel are privately or federally held, so this didn’t necessarily result in pressure for further development,” he says.

Although the new law prohibits resort-style lodging, it does allow the state to build small cabins accommodating up to six people — stopping short of banning all overnight facilities. It also mandates that state parks focus on what it calls “conservation-based recreational uses,” such as camping, hiking, cycling, birding, fishing and nature study.

By Dec. 1, parks officials must compile a report detailing necessary repairs and upgrades to trails, boat ramps, restrooms and other public-use infrastructure, including cost estimates and implementation plans.

For environmental advocates, the public’s swift and decisive opposition to the Great Outdoors Initiative marked a turning point.

“It was amazing to see such a unified and clear response from Floridians,” DePaolis says, “saying that we understand and value our natural spaces, and that our state parks were inappropriate places for golf, pickleball and resorts.”