Treasure Coast - Monday August 25, 2024: In the face of public outcry the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation has announced they are withdrawing their proposal to build three golf courses within Martin County's Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
In turn, the Communications Director for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), Alexandra Kuchta, issued a statement to WQCS which says, in part, "this project will be removed from agency review."
FDEP was only planning a one-hour public meeting to review this controversial project. Notice of a meeting was posted on their website, without being issued to the public.
The meeting to review the Dickinson Park proposal, along with similar proposals effecting seven other state parks, was scheduled to be held today in Stuart, but FDEP now says those meetings are being re-scheduled. However no date has been set, and opponents are seeking to have them all cancelled.
A post on the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation's website explains that they were working with the state of Florida (FDEP) on developing golf courses in the state park, "however, we have received clear feedback that Jonathan Dickinson State Park is not the right location ... We will not pursue building ."
The Foundation admitted that they "did not understand the local community landscape and appreciate the clarity." Over the past week that clarity has come in the form of widespread condemnation from elected officials, environmental groups, and the public at large.
- "Golf courses don’t belong in state parks," reads a statement from the Florida Chapter of the Sierra Club. "How can anyone think that adding the attendant fertilizer, pesticide, and fungicide loads or the traffic to any state park would be good for the public? Or the flora and fauna."
- Friends of the Everglades called it a "shady proposal", and "an assault on Florida's state parks."
- 1000 Friends of Florida warned "The DEP proposal, if implemented, would represent a radical, irreversible change for lands within the Florida Parks system."
- In a letter to FDEP Secretary Shawn Hamilton, Treasure Coast Congressman Congressman Brian Mast wrote: "I and nearly every member of our community are overwhelmingly OPPOSED to building golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park." He said the proposal is "ridiculous."
The Tuskegee Dunes Foundation was one of an, as yet, unknown number of groups who responded to a Request for Proposals issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Acquisition and Restoration Council.
The Acquisition Council's RFP grew out of the so called, 'Great Outdoors Initiative', publicly announced on Monday August 19th, the day before the public hearing at 'The Flagler of Stuart', that has now been postponed. The 'Great Outdoors Initiative' calls for increased recreational and lodging facilities to be constructed within Florida's State Parks.
During a news conference in Stuart this afternoon, outside the Flagler, Congressman Mast said - "We want to know (from) the seven to ten board members that are a part of the Acquisition Council, what was the correspondence related to this."
The Congressman said has not yet received any response from the Department of Environmental Protection to find out more about this 'Great Outdoors Initiative' and how it will impact, not just Dickinson State Park but seven other state parks under the protection of FDEP.
Below is a list of the 8 state parks under consideration for recreational developments by FDEP.