TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida senator has filed a bill that might prohibit builders from constructing on state park lands.
This comes just some months after a whistleblower leaked controversial plans that might have resulted in golf programs, inns, and pickleball courts being in-built a handful of Florida’s state parks.
The proposals sparked protests throughout the state, with the whistleblower stating in a GoFundMe that he launched the “atrocious” plans as a result of he felt they have been being stored a secret from the general public.
Whereas the Florida Division of Environmental Safety (DEP) later withdrew the proposed amendments on the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Gayle Harrell’s invoice, dubbed the “State Park Preservation Act,” goals to ensure one thing like that may’t occur once more.
The invoice would require public hearings for all conservation and nonconservation land administration plans and supply a particular timeframe for which these plans should be made accessible to the general public.
The invoice’s textual content additionally states that it could prohibit the division from authorizing “sure makes use of or development actions inside a state park,” together with the set up of “any lodging institution.”
As an alternative, state parks could be requested to concentrate on “conservation-based public outside leisure makes use of” that do not disrupt nature or require a facility. Such actions embrace issues like fishing, bicycling, mountain climbing, swimming, boating and extra.
Campsites and tenting cabins that meet a sure checklist of necessities would nonetheless be permitted beneath the invoice.
Harrell, who’s a Republican representing Florida Senate District 31, filed the invoice on Wednesday, Dec. 4. The invoice nonetheless has to go via the senate and home, but when accepted, it could take impact in July 2025.
