In St. Johns County, outrage continues over the state’s plans to expand Anastasia State Park to include a lodge, pickleball courts and disc golf.
Last week, The St. Augustine Record reported on the uprising in America’s oldest city as residents and officials reacted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s announcement of the 2024-25 Great Outdoors Initiative.
The plans called for additional amenities such as pickleball courts, disc golf, full golf courses and hotels or lodges in nine Florida state parks, including Anastasia State Park, a state recreation area along the coast within the city limits of St. Augustine.
The DEP’s draft UPM Amendment for Anastasia State Park proposes building a 350-room lodge in the south area, just south of the Island Beach Shop and Grill. Four pickleball courts and a disc golf course are also planned in the Salt Run area of the park.
On Sunday, hundreds of people gathered along A1A with protest signs against the initiative.
Further reactions from city and county officials
Sarah Arnold, chair of the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners, issued a public statement Sunday expressing concern and anger over the plan, which she said caught the commission completely off guard. According to Arnold, the commission was not informed of details of the project before the DEP’s announcement.
“Parks are for people, not for profit-making projects,” she wrote. “Our board has consistently upheld its views on the conservation and protection of natural resources. This proposed project is completely contrary to the board’s vision and priorities.”
Arnold said the board will devote all available resources to the proposed project.
“Anastasia State Park is a state-owned recreation area within the city limits of St. Augustine,” she said. “It may require a review by staff and the city commission.”
Commissioner Henry Dean said the land for Anastasia State Park was originally purchased in 1959. He recalled negotiating the purchase of Conch Island in the northern part of the park in 1982 when he was director of the Department of Natural Resources’ Division of State Lands, a precursor to the DEP.
“The day I presented the proposal to the governor and the Cabinet was truly a happy day,” he said. “I remember thinking, ‘No more high-rises or hotels will be built on the site of Anastasia State Park. The beautiful beach, the high dunes, the hammocks by the sea will remain forever.'”
Dean called the announcement disheartening.
“Ocean breezes and occasional storms have bent and withered the park’s trees over the years, but however bent, they withstand the storms and stand as proud testaments to the strength and resilience of Florida’s natural resources,” he continued. “We inherited our beautiful state parks from politicians like Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman who recognized the beauty of Florida’s natural resources and took bold action to secure them for future generations.”
St. Augustine Beach Mayor Dylan Rumrell urged residents to make their voices heard by emailing and calling the DEP on social media.
St. Augustine Mayor and historic preservationist Nancy Sikes-Kline called Anastasia State Park special, citing the old King’s Quarries – Spanish coquina quarries – located within the park.
“Any discussion about the development of the park must take into account the value and location of this important historic resource,” she said.
Sikes-Kline also urged residents to make their voices heard by contacting the DEP. She also included a description of Anastasia State Park from the National Register of Historic Places on social media.
“Although best known today for its broad Atlantic beach and modern camping facilities in dense, pristine forests, Anastasia State Park is closely tied to the history of St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. The park is located directly across from that picturesque city on the Matanzas River on a narrow strip of land called Anastasia Island,” the entry states. “The name ‘Anastasia’ is Spanish and can be translated literally as ‘of the resurrection.'” Within the 1,035-acre park boundaries are the original coquina, or shell, veins from which the Spanish dug stone in the 17th century to build the Castillo de San Marcos – a fortress that was vital to protecting the heart of the Spanish holdings. Mining was a slow and laborious task, as the coquina had to be cut into blocks of the desired size and dragged by oxen through the jungle and swampland to the Matanzas River, where the blocks were loaded onto large barges and rowed across to the mainland. Because of its attractive color and texture, as well as its comparative durability, coquina was also used in other colonial buildings in St. Augustine.
The Matanzas River Keeper hosted a letter-writing party and invited everyone to submit written comments on the draft proposals.
“Please fill out this survey, not just for our local park, but for all nine state parks,” it said. “Let’s send a clear message that golf courses do not belong in any of our state parks!”
Complete golf courses, which were part of the plans for some of the nine state parks, are not currently part of the plans for Anastasia Island.
Public meeting postponed
The DEP had originally scheduled public meetings across the state for each park plan, all at the same time – Tuesday, August 27, from 3 to 4 p.m.
But late Friday afternoon, the ministry postponed all meetings and announced that it would postpone them until a later date. It said it would set new meeting dates and locations by September 1.
In the meantime, the public can submit comments to the agency through a special web portal at https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7983173/Great-Outdoors-Initiative or by email to [email protected], it said.
