Proposed ‘glamping’ upgrades for Osceola park worry environmentalists

A 35-acre Osceola County park on the southern shore of Lake Toho is set to get a $19.5 million “glamping” upgrade — with dozens of new lodging units, an amphitheater and an upgraded restaurant — but the proposal is stirring controversy amid statewide debate about the appropriate amount of development in parks.

Environmental advocates are objecting to the plans for Southport Regional Park , which sits just east of the Nature Conservancy’s Disney Wilderness Preserve and is home to wildlife including protected bald eagles, endangered Everglades snail kites and threatened sandhill cranes.

“It sets a bad precedent of selling public land for private ownership and private development,” said Marjorie Holt, Central Florida Sierra Club’s conservation chair. “It now shows Osceola is not committed to maintaining a wildlife-friendly habitat.”

The developer — Boggy Creek Adventures, which operates an airboat concession at the park — insists the project will be sensitively done. But it also comes at a touchy time, in the wake of the August rollout of a controversial plan by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to install recreational amenities including golf courses, pickleball courts and lodges with up to 350 rooms at nine state parks.

That proposal sparked bipartisan outrage and a string of protests. About a week after the announcement, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the plan was “half-baked” and would go “back to the drawing board.”

The Southport proposal — on land owned by the state but managed by the county — was not part of the DEP plan. But adding to the questions about the process is that Osceola County has no current plans for public input on the new construction in a park that currently features a small boardwalk for anglers, pavilions with picnic tables, a small restaurant and the airboat tours.

County spokesman Tom Alexander said by email that public hearings are not normally held for concessionaire agreements, which is what the park proposal is considered.

The development of “high-end glamping” has been on the table for Southport since 2013 when the county adopted its Southport Regional Park master plan in coordination with the state. Glamping, or glamorous camping, generally has amenities not typically used when camping — such as beds, electricity and access to indoor plumbing.

The county’s master plan outlines permissible capital improvements at the park — including cabins with an “Old Cracker Florida feel” to add “experiences for citizens and visitors to Osceola county.”

The park has been managed since 1967 by the county, which in 2001 passed maintenance operations off to Boggy Creek at Southport Inc. — owner of the airboat company — which pays the county roughly $5,000 in rent each month.

Chris Park, owner of KP Adventures LLC which purchased the airboat company in June, wants to add roughly 56 cabins, an amphitheater and upgrade the restaurant.

The proposal includes seven different cabin variations — including mirrored, treehouse-style, silo and A-frame — along with a 10-unit main lodge and “resort pool,” an expanded tiki bar, space for tent camping and a boardwalk into the wetlands.

Park said because the plan is in the early stages it could change.

“We’re not doing what Ron DeSantis is doing,” Park said. “We’re enhancing the land and we’re doing it in a tasteful and environmentally conscious way.”

He said his plan is different because it would allow the public to utilize a regional park that for over 20 years has been developed with airboats, campgrounds and fishing at one of the world’s premier bass fishing lakes.

Park and his company co-owner Stewart Kirscht said under their plans they won’t remove any trees or use insecticides and cabins will be prefabricated and placed on decks built onsite.

“What we’re doing here is going to enhance the park and we foresee many more people in the county using it than before,” Park said. “One of the reasons why it’s [a $19.5 million project] is because we’re going to such lengths to make sure that we don’t impact the environment in a negative way.”

He said he’s working with the county to secure permits from state agencies to add the cabins. He’s also working on a recycling plan to prevent harm to the wildlife. He hopes to finish construction in 18 to 24 months.

Kirscht said they want to submit plans to the county at the end of the month and then in early October start requesting permits from the state. He said obtaining approval for all permits will take from four to six months and possibly longer to do things the right way.

“The property was meant to be developed in a responsible manner and that’s what we’re doing here,” she said. “The cattle ranching family next door said they sold their land to the state in order for it to be used.”

Environmental advocates are raising concerns the project could disrupt the wildlife corridor between Disney’s wilderness preserve and Southport park.

Holt, who’s on the Central Florida Expressway Authority’s environmental stewardship committee, said the area is important to the region because a new expressway is planned for nearby.

The proposed Southport Connector Expressway toll road is meant to alleviate traffic from Osceola’s Poinciana area and neighboring Polk County. It will connect residents from Interstate 4 near Disney World across rural Osceola lands to Florida’s Turnpike south of St. Cloud.

Holt said the proposed expressway already diminishes land available for wildlife and plans for the park could further reduce their land.

“It certainly disrupts a corridor of protected land,” she said.

While park development awaits state approval, Cris Costello, regional senior organizing manager at Sierra Club, said the state and county should hold off green-lighting development until after the public can weigh in at a future meeting.

“With regard to any change at any public park, whether it’s a city, county or state, there needs to be a lot of public process,” Costello said.