Florida’s environmental agency unveiled major development proposals at nine state parks Wednesday in a sweeping initiative that could redefine Gov. Ron DeSantis’ conservation record and put sensitive, already imperiled habitat further at risk.

The project ideas that may lead to the most severe habitat loss include a golf course at Jonathan Dickinson State Park on Florida’s Atlantic coast, which would require the removal of the iconic Hobe Mountain observation tower on protected scrub habitat and the homes of park staff members, among other park facilities, according to state documents.

The DeSantis administration also wants to build 350-room park lodges at both Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine and Topsail Hill Preserve State Park on Santa Rosa Beach, according to documents uploaded to the state’s website. The list goes on: The plans call for constructing up to four pickleball courts each at seven state parks, a disc golf course at five state parks and a suite of new cabins at three parks.

In Tampa Bay, plans call for up to four pickleball courts at both Honeymoon Island State Park and Hillsborough River State Park, with the addition of a disc golf course at the latter, the draft records show.

The state agency is giving the public six days to digest the park plans before it hosts simultaneous, apparently in-person-only meetings across the state. All meetings are scheduled for Aug. 27 at 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Agendas obtained by the Tampa Bay Times from the parks Tallahassee office are scarce in detail, but show there will be a brief presentation followed by a public comment period.

As word of the proposed plans spread late Tuesday, a firestorm of public outcry bubbled to the surface. Protesters stood outside of Jonathan Dickinson with “stop the golf courses” signs and environmental advocacy groups mobilized their audiences with email blasts, social media posts and videos.

Eric Draper, who served as the director of Florida’s state parks between 2017 and 2021, said it appears the state’s environmental agency is skirting the legal process and the parks system’s own internal operations manual for updating park management plans.

“This appears to be something that has been planned in secret, and it doesn’t appear to have involved the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are volunteers in the parks, the citizen support organizations, or the many people who have been involved in helping to create and develop Florida’s award-winning park system,” Draper said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Times.

Before the environmental agency formally introduced its proposed changes, staff should have convened a citizens advisory committee made up of other state agencies and people who are working at state parks, Draper said. That advisory committee should have then met and held a public hearing.

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“This seems like a process that is deliberately intended to avoid public participation. The whole spirit of the law is to encourage public participation,” Draper said.

What are the changes?

These are the proposed changes at nine Florida state parks, according to state documents:

• Jonathan Dickinson State Park

Public golf courses and other facilities, including the removal of the Hobe Mountain Observation Tower, an existing park entrance, staff residences and more.

A park lodge with 350-room capacity, up to four pickleball courts, a disc golf course.

• Topsail Hill Preserve State Park

A park lodge with 350-room capacity, up to four pickleball courts, a disc golf course.

Up to 10 cabins, a beach access restroom, up to four pickleball courts, a disc golf course.

• Hillsborough River State Park

Up to four pickleball courts, a disc golf course.

• Honeymoon Island State Park

Up to four pickleball courts.

Up to 10 cabins or glamping space, up to four pickleball courts, a disc golf course.

• Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park

Up to four pickleball courts.

Up to 10 cabins or a glamping area.

State to hold public meetings

Park staff at several locations that were contacted by the Times earlier in the week said they hadn’t heard of any proposed changes. When reached by phone Monday afternoon, for instance, the park manager at Honeymoon Island, Don Bergeron, said he hadn’t heard anything about pickleball courts and was unaware of any planned proposal to build them on Honeymoon Island State Park.

“It’s not going to have a pickleball court,” he said. Reached by phone again on Wednesday morning, after the state unveiled its plans, Bergeron said he had just learned of the proposal but didn’t want to comment further.

Florida state law says management plans for individual state parks need to be updated at least every 10 years, but a majority of the parks with proposed changes have up-to-date management plans. Two state parks, Honeymoon Island and Oleta River, had their management plans updated as recently as 2022, state records show. The state wants to build pickleball courts at both parks.

It’s not the first time there’s been a proposal to build a golf course in Jonathan Dickinson State Park. In 2011, lawmakers introduced legislation that would have let famed golfer Jack Nicklaus build golf courses in state parks. In a bill written by then-state Rep. Patrick Rooney Jr., Jonathan Dickinson was named as one of the parks required to get a course, the Times reported at the time. Public outcry led lawmakers to withdraw their plans a week after they were introduced.

DeSantis is well known in political circles to love golf and received a $28,000 golf simulator from a wealthy donor.

“State parks are supposed to be the real Florida. God help us if the real Florida becomes pickleball courts and golf courses,” said Julie Wraithmell, executive director of Audubon Florida. She said she’s heartened by the groundswell of support rallying behind opposition to the plan. “Those people are what makes living in Florida the amazing experience that it is.”

Below are the locations for each state park proposal meeting scheduled for Aug. 27:

• Hillsborough River State Park, Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library, 2902 W. Bearss Ave., Tampa, Community Room D
• Honeymoon Island State Park, The District, 11141 U.S. 19 N., Suite 204, Clearwater
• Oleta River State Park, Florida International University, Biscayne Bay campus, Kovens Conference Center, Room 114, 3000 NE 151 Street North, Miami.
• Jonathan Dickinson State Park, The Flagler of Stuart, 201 SW Flagler Ave., River Room, Stuart
• Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, Downtown Event Center, 416 NE First St., Fort Lauderdale, Lecture Hall, Building C, second floor (Enter at Main Entrance B — clearly marked on the outside of the building.)
• Anastasia State Park, First Coast Technical College, The Character Counts Conference Center, Building C, 2980 Collins Ave., St. Augustine
• Camp Helen State Park, Lyndell Conference Center, 423 Lyndell Lane, Panama City Beach
• Topsail Hill Preserve State Park and Grayton Beach State Park, Watercolor Inn & Resort, Watercolor LakeHouse, 34 Goldenrod Circle, Santa Rosa Beach

By Tom Bergin, Lawrence Delevingne and Koh Gui Qing

(Reuters) – Donald J. Trump’s golf club in Jupiter, Florida, where multi-million-dollar villas flank the greens of an 18-hole course, reflects the new geography of his family business. Long based in New York, the Trump Organization has gravitated recently to Florida’s southeast coast, where its golf and resort properties now pay the bills.

A decade ago, before Trump ran for president for the first time as a Republican in 2016, his golf courses and resorts were a drain on the company’s cash flow, which mostly came from real estate, according to a Reuters analysis of court and tax records and other financial disclosures.

But today, the golf and resort business is the biggest driver of the company’s cash flow — accounting for about four-fifths of the approximately $80 million in cash after operating expenses that will be generated this year by the hundreds of companies ultimately owned by Donald Trump, known collectively as the Trump Organization. The group’s annual revenues are over $600 million, according to the Reuters estimate.

The analysis is the first detailed estimate of Trump’s projected 2024 income, as he contests November’s presidential election. It is based on financial statements and other information provided as part of court cases, regulatory filings by Trump Organization entities and their partners, U.S. tax records and other documents.

The health of Trump’s golf business is a bright spot at a precarious moment for the Trump Organization: it faces more than $530 million of court judgments and interest against Trump, some family members who hold senior roles, and his companies; a weak commercial real estate market in New York; and the question of what happens if Trump loses a tight race for the presidency.

If enforced, the court judgments would exceed the amount of cash that Trump said he had as of this March, via a social media post: “almost five hundred million dollars.”

Reuters shared its detailed projections with former president Trump’s son Eric who runs the family business, and two other senior Trump Organization executives, and Trump’s campaign representatives.

“The Trump Organization is the strongest it has ever been,” Eric Trump said in a written response. “We have the best and most iconic assets anywhere in the world and I am incredibly proud of not only everything the company has accomplished, but also everything my father has accomplished in the political world.”

He did not comment directly on the financial estimates or other specifics shared by Reuters, and the others did not respond.

The news agency also interviewed more than a dozen business associates, real estate and leisure industry experts, and people familiar with Trump properties.

On paper, much of Trump’s wealth is tied up in his majority stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, owner of social media platform Truth Social. Shares of the media company have been pumped sky-high in large part by retail investors enthusiastic about Trump’s brand and his prospects in November’s election.

After surging early this year, stock has fallen by more than half, but the company – in which Trump holds a stake of more than 50% – still has a market capitalization of about $4.5 billion. As of Monday, that stake was worth about $2.5 billion

The media company, however, adds nothing to Trump’s cash flows – it is a separate company from the Trump Organization and it generated a loss of $58 million last year on revenues of just $4 million. His shares in Trump Media are locked up by a corporate agreement that expires in September. If faced with a large legal bill after that, Trump could unload those shares piecemeal – selling all at once could cause the stock to tank – or sell off assets like buildings.

JEWEL IN THE CROWN

Last week Trump submitted his latest U.S. Office of Government Ethics candidate financial disclosure. This included the revenues from some of his businesses and fees received for endorsements, such as a $300,000 fee for promoting a bible published by a country singer. The disclosure consists mostly of broad ranges of value Trump has ascribed to his businesses and ranges of revenues that these businesses generated across 2023 and part of 2024, rather than estimates of the cash he earns.

The jewel in the crown of Trump’s business is the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, the ornate resort where the former President lives and receives a stream of politicians and influence-seekers: that will generate an estimated $24 million in cash in 2024, according to the Reuters analysis.

Three nearby golf-focused properties are also resurgent, with revenue jumping in the wake of the Covid pandemic. Trump National Doral, the expansive but leveraged Miami-area golf hub, will generate an estimated $10.5 million cash, while smaller clubs in Jupiter and West Palm Beach will yield an estimated $8.4 million and $10.4 million, respectively, according to the Reuters estimates.

The rise in golf-related cashflow underlines Trump’s popularity with a core of affluent Americans, especially in strongholds of his Make America Great Again movement like Florida.

Trump “has galvanized people who are his base to come spend their money at his places because they want a piece of him,” said Christopher Henry, CEO of consultants Majestic Hospitality Group.

Reuters based its analysis on the clubs’ past profitability, as disclosed in court documents, adjusted for the increased revenues predicted by the Trump Organization and checked against Trump’s most recent Office of Government Ethics disclosures.

Reuters’ estimates exclude major capital expenditure on upgrades to the Trump properties, which can be significant, said Doug McCoy, a professor of finance at Indiana University. While the news agency found no public reports of such renovations, that could mean the Reuters cash flow estimate is too high.

Florida-based golf consultant Stephen Eisenberg said major course renovations are required every 10 to 15 years.

In addition to McCoy, Reuters vetted its analysis with three independent experts in the real estate and resort industries – an investment bank analyst, a finance professor and an industry executive. None of them took issue with the overall approach or underlying calculations.

Golf course owner and consultant Kenny Nairn said some in the industry are bracing for a possible cooling in the Florida market after a heady few years. More than a dozen new golf courses are being built in the state, which will increase competition for members and playing fees.

Trump’s Florida courses had margins of over 30% across 2021, 2022 and the first five months of 2023, according to documents released as part of the fraud trial.

“Most clubs here in Florida are in the 8% to 10% NOI (net operating income). If you have a fantastic year, you can be up to 15%, 17%,” Nairn said, adding that he could not see those profit margins being sustained.

LEGAL TROUBLES IN NEW YORK

In 2022, New York’s attorney general brought a fraud case against the Trumps for overstating the valuation of their properties for economic gain. The prosecution was successful: a judge in February fined the former president, his companies, and two eldest sons $363 million. Including interest, the fine stands at more than $450 million.

The ruling temporarily barred Donald, Eric and Donald Jr. from serving as an officer or director of a New York-based company, and mandated an independent monitor and director of compliance, citing the fraud conviction and inadequate internal controls.

Trump has posted a $175 million bond while the case is on appeal and Eric Trump remains in charge of the Trump Organization. There is also an $83.3 million defamation verdict against Trump as a private defendant, which is also being appealed.

Days after the valuation judgment in New York, the Trump Organization said it had shifted a series of legal entities foundational to its business from Manhattan to Florida, including to the address of its Jupiter golf club. The reorganization, though, appears to have been blocked by the judge, who ruled Trump could not evade the terms of its monitorship through “change in corporate form.” Eric Trump and the Trump Organization did not comment on this.

The Manhattan Supreme Court judge, Arthur Engoron, did not respond to an email seeking comment. The New York attorney general’s office declined to comment.

Florida has been friendlier. In March, the state’s Republican attorney general joined a legal brief supporting the former president before the U.S. Supreme Court; it called the New York case against Trump a “shocking” and partisan attempt to bankrupt him. The Florida attorney general’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

NEW EXPANSION, OLD DEBTS

Reinforcing the growing importance of Florida, the Trump Organization is seeking approval from the city of Doral, just outside Miami, to build nearly 1,500 residential units at his golf resort there. It would be the group’s first major new property development since completing a set of condominium-hotel towers in Las Vegas and Chicago in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

In New York, however, a cooling of the commercial property market poses a problem for the Trump Organization.

Coming due in 2025 is Trump’s approximately $120 million loan on 40 Wall Street – an office skyscraper in Manhattan where occupancy and income have declined. The building was one-fifth empty at the end of last year, according to Fitch Ratings.

Falling rents and a sharp rise in interest rates mean that buildings like 40 Wall Street are typically unable to generate the revenues to service the high levels of debt they did during the commercial property boom before the pandemic, according to Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate and finance at Columbia University.

The Trump Organization for now is building its business from Jupiter, the wealthy beach town known for golf courses and big-name residents nearby, such as Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

Eric and Donald Jr. both live in town with their families and work a short ride away at Trump National Golf Club Jupiter. It’s there that they applied for permits earlier this year to build a three-story, nearly 46,000 square foot headquarters for what company literature refers to as the “Trump Golf empire.”

In February, Eric Trump went on Fox News from Florida to decry the valuation fraud ruling against the family business as politically motivated.

“The best thing I ever did,” he said, “was get out of New York.”

(Reporting by Tom Bergin in London, Lawrence Delevingne in Boston and Koh Gui Qing in New York. Editing by Tom Lasseter, Benjamin Lesser and Claudia Parsons)

A Florida state Senate candidate endorsed by former President Donald Trump has lost his Republican primary election to a candidate endorsed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

With more than 95 percent of the vote counted on Tuesday night, results showed that Trump-backed David Shoar was defeated by Florida state Representative Tom Leek by the considerable margin of 47 percent to 28 percent, according to The Associated Press.

In addition to DeSantis, Leek was endorsed by many other powerful figures in Republican Florida politics, including U.S. Senator Rick Scott, who also won his primary race on Tuesday.

Shoar, formerly the sheriff of St. Johns County, ended the race neck-and-neck with the third-place finisher, former professional wrestler Gerry James, despite being given Trump’s “complete and total” endorsement this month.

“David Shoar is a tremendous America First Patriot who is running to represent the incredible people of Florida’s 7th State Senate District!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on August 5.

“David Shoar, who is 100% MAGA, and has been with us from the very beginning, has my Complete and Total Endorsement – HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” he added.

Trump’s endorsements have shown mixed results. While many of his endorsees have seen success, a number of high-profile candidates backed by the former president have lost their primaries, including three candidates who lost races during a single night in late June.

Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump’s office via email on Tuesday night.

Daytona Beach NBC affiliate WESH described Trump’s endorsement of Shoar as “really an extension of the feud” between the former president and DeSantis.

While the Florida governor became the target of Trump’s wrath after challenging him in the GOP presidential primaries, he has since gone on to endorse Trump’s bid to return to the White House.

Shoar and other opponents of Leek attacked him over the price of property insurance in Florida, blaming the costs on policies that he supported in the Legislature. A number of trial lawyers also opposed Leek for writing a bill to combat “lawsuit abuse,” according to Florida Politics.

Leek told Florida’s Voice on Tuesday night that he owed his “incredible victory” to voters who “did not fall for the false attacks” from “statewide Democrat, personal injury lawyers, who spent millions of dollars trying to influence a local state Senate Republican primary election.”

Shortly before Leek’s victory, twice-failed congressional candidate, conspiracy theorist and Trump loyalist Laura Loomer urged Republicans to vote against the “RINO [Republican in Name Only]” in a post to X, formerly Twitter.

“Florida Voters Must Reject RINO Tom Leek ⁦@TomLeekforFL who helped contribute to the insurance crisis in Florida & betrayed President Trump,” Loomer wrote. “President Trump has endorsed David Shoar for Florida Senate District 7!”

Leek is heavily favored to win November’s general election, as District 7 leans heavily Republican. He will face Democrat George “T” Hill, a self-described “former lifelong Republican, self-made millionaire, gender fluid transwoman seeking office in the Florida Senate.”