Golf courses in Florida state parks?
US Congressman Brian Mast speaks about golf course proposals at Jonathan Dickinson State Park
STUART — A public meeting on Tuesday about plans for golf courses and hotels in Jonathan Dickinson State Park had to be postponed for safety reasons. Now the authorities have canceled the meeting. A large number of participants had been expected.
Stuart Main Street, operator of the Flagler of Stuart, where the 3 p.m. meeting was scheduled to take place, said the meeting would be held elsewhere. Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials later announced on X (formerly Twitter) that they had canceled the meeting in Stuart and others across the state through September.
“DEP is seeking new venues to accommodate the public,” agency officials said in a post late Friday afternoon. “New meeting dates will be announced shortly, with anticipated meetings taking place the week of September 2, 2024.”
“Significant safety concerns have been identified regarding the capacity of the event,” Candace Callahan, executive director of Stuart Main Street, said by email.
State officials have been notified, she said, and “they are working on an alternative plan.”
Resistance is growing
There is enormous opposition to this plan from the public as well as local, state and federal authorities.
“There will be a golf course over my dead body in Jonathan Dickinson State Park!” Republican U.S. Representative Brian Mast of Fort Pierce posted on Facebook on Thursday.
Local residents and authorities want to stop the plans, which include the construction of hotels, three golf courses and the demolition of the observation tower on Hobe Mountain, which is considered unsafe.
More: Could changes in Florida’s park system add golf courses to Jonathan Dickinson State Park?
Martin County Sheriff William Snyder shares his opinion on golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park
Martin County Sheriff William Snyder discusses a possible increase in calls on August 22, 2024 if plans for golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park become reality.
Tens of thousands of people have voiced their opposition through three different channels. A Facebook group called “Protect Jonathan Dickinson State Park” had over 36,000 members four days after it was created by Jessica Namath, a former member of the Tequesta Environmental Advisory Committee.
“It’s outrageous that they think we’re OK with this,” Namath said Thursday. “We already have enough golf courses polluting our water with waste, and this would be just another one in critical habitat.”
Thousands of signatures on the petition were collected by Audubon of Martin County and the Florida Wildlife Federation. The groups planned to pack Tuesday’s meeting to capacity.
A petition on Change.org against the golf courses had received over 79,000 signatures by Friday afternoon.
More: Jonathan Dickinson State Park was named after a shipwrecked Quaker: 5 remarkable facts
More: High Schools in Congress: Growing Concerns Over Development of Jonathan Dickinson State Park
Officials resist the onslaught
Also Friday, Mast said he and U.S. Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio, as well as other state and local officials, had sent a letter to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection protesting the rushed development of the park.
“The communities surrounding Jonathan Dickinson State Park are entitled to a public hearing meeting with members of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Acquisition and Restoration Council (ARC),” officials said in a press release.
“It is the ARC that actually votes on whether golf courses and hotels are built in our park, and the public has a right to make their voice heard,” they wrote.
Scott was the originator of a similar idea that he tried to push through in 2011.
Outrage over limited meeting time
Mast and the others also expressed their outrage at the limited time of the planned meeting.
“Currently, FDEP is proposing to hold a one-hour public comment period on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, between 3 and 4 p.m.,” the press release states. “This is absolutely ridiculous, especially since not a single one of the seven voting ARC members will be present to speak to the public.”
Mast and the others also suggested that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection hold the meeting at a location that can accommodate more people. And officials suggested holding one meeting in Stuart and one in Jupiter.
Keith Burbank is TCPalm’s watchdog reporter for Martin County. He can be reached at [email protected] and at 720-288-6882. TCPalm business reporter Jack Lemnus contributed to this story.
