Florida considering drastic changes to a few Panhandle State Parks

BAY COUNTY, FL. ( WMBB ) – The state is considering making changes to a few state parks that some say are controversial at the very least.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection is considering building golf courses, pickleball courts, and even 300-room lodges at some parks, including 3 in our area.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection announced their proposed changes to 9 Florida state parks. They hope to bring pickleball courts, golf courses, disc golf courses, resort-style hotels, and lodges into the state parks.

“It felt like a punch in the gut. The amazing thing to me is that the same people that we look to and should be able to look to, to protect places like this are the ones who are now turning into developers and are working towards destroying what we have worked so hard to preserve here,” Bay County resident Rich Jaffee said.

The proposal is called the 2024-2025 Great Outdoor Initiative.

Camp Helen State Park, Grayton Beach State Park, and Topsail Hill Preserve State Park are among the 9 Florida state parks included in the proposal.

DEP officials gave a 1-week notice for a series of meetings to take public comments on the projects.

“It’s pretty disheartening and very devastating. When we heard all of this, I’ll be honest, I cried on the phone talking to someone about it. We were given very little notice to attend these meetings and we were all shocked that these projects have already been proposed and we’ve heard nothing about them yet,” resident Courtney Harper said.

State officials say nearly 30 million people visited one of Florida’s 175 state parks in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, generating $3.6 billion in economic impact. Some believe the parks can’t handle much more.

“All of us who live here go out on our boats or kayaks, whatever, and we pick up trash every single time. You can’t go fishing out here without loading up your boat with a bunch of trash that other people have left. You’re going to add a whole bunch of people who are going to come in for a weekend and go into fancy tents and cabins and you think they’re going to pick up around themselves?” Harper said.

The meetings are all set for August 27 from 3 p.m.

The Camp Helen meeting is at the Lyndell Conference Center in Panama City Beach.

Topsail Hill Preserve and Grayton Beach Park meetings will be at the Watercolor Inn in Santa Rosa Beach.

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