PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Final summer time, the Florida Division of Setting Safety thought-about including facilities like golf programs, pickleball courts, and inns to sure state Parks throughout the state.
9 parks throughout the state, together with Honeymoon Island and Hillsborough River State Parks, had been chosen for proposed upgrades. Nonetheless, the adjustments sparked fierce protest and backlash, and Gov. Ron DeSantis shelved the plans.
It’s nonetheless onerous for residents like Michael McGrath to consider. “Like many people throughout the whole state, I used to be flabbergasted,” McGrath mentioned.
“A variety of that stuff was simply half-baked and never prepared for prime time,” the governor mentioned final August.
The general public U-turn got here after intense public outcry and protests. “We noticed, very clearly, that Floridians weren’t going to take this,” McGrath mentioned.
However the struggle isn’t over. Proper now, lawmakers in Tallahassee are debating a pair of companion payments referred to as the State Park Preservation Act, which seeks to guard state parks from future growth.
McGrath, lead organizer of Sierra Membership Florida, helps the idea. The payments would require public hearings earlier than vital land-use adjustments at state parks and purpose to make sure that the parks are used for “conservation-based public outside leisure makes use of.”
“That is actually an all-hands-on-deck second for Floridians to guard our state park system,” McGrath mentioned. He and the Sierra Membership, nonetheless, have some issues with the payments. They suppose the payments want extra enamel and extra particular language.
“We have to make it possible for there are usually not any loopholes in there that may enable for what we noticed with the Park-gate scandal final summer time to ever happen once more,” he mentioned. “If we would like this actually to be a State Park Preservation Act, we’d like to verify there’s precise language in there that ensures preservation.”
He mentioned the laws needs to be amended to obviously outline prohibited makes use of and take away different situations of what he described as obscure language. To emphasise its opposition to the payments, the Sierra Membership Florida has deliberate greater than a dozen rallies at state parks throughout the state.
Rallies are set for this Saturday at Weeki Wachee Springs, Oscar Scherer, and Honeymoon Island State Parks. One other rally is ready for April 13 at Hillsborough River State Park. McGrath hopes the rallies will ship a loud and clear message to lawmakers in Tallahassee.
“We have to hearken to the voice of the folks, proper?” McGrath mentioned.
Study extra in regards to the upcoming rallies right here.
ABC Motion Information reached out to the sponsors of each the Home and Senate payments however has but to obtain a response.