A former Florida state employee who leaked details on plans to add golf courses, pickleball courts and lodges at state parks says he was fired last week from his job at the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) but doesn’t regret making the proposals public.
James Gaddis, 41, was a cartographer in the Office of Park Planning where he said he was personally tasked with drawing the plans to add amenities to nine state parks, including the three golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
A spokeswoman for DEP said late Monday that the office does not comment on personnel matters.
The statewide public outcry against the proposed park additions forced Gov. Ron DeSantis and the DEP to withdraw all planned changes last week. Groups pushing the golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson — Tuskegee Dunes Foundation and Folds of Honor — also pulled the plug on the project.
“I was drawing the golf course polygons and putting a point down where the hotel was going to go in Anastasia State Park (near St. Augustine) and I was already disgusted but it just kept getting worse and worse,” Gaddis said in an interview with The Palm Beach Post on Monday. “I said, ‘What I am mapping out here is too bad and too egregious and I can’t take this anymore.’”
More:Nicklaus Companies says it's not involved with proposed golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson
Gaddis, who had worked in the department for more than two years and is a single father to an 11-year-old girl, started a GoFundMe campaign to help with expenses until he can find another job. He was emphatic that he was the only person involved in the leak and was concerned about his former co-workers facing punishments.
Environmentalists said they were caught off guard by the plans, which began circulating around Aug. 19 with the announcement by DEP of the Great Outdoors Initiative meant to increase public visits to state parks. The plans were so unexpected and unusual that some people even believed in the beginning that the documents released were fake.
DEP employees who were asked to create the plans also initially thought the request was a joke, Gaddis said. He said DeSantis is generally well regarded within the DEP because of the money he's dedicated to the environment and buying land for conservation. Gaddis said that's why the park plans were even more of a "head-scratcher."
According to Gaddis, he was called into an online meeting in late July and given marching orders about what amenities were wanted and where.
“And after that, that’s all we worked on for the month of August,” he said. “We’ve all been under a tremendous amount of pressure.”
The state's Acquisition and Restoration Council (ARC), which votes on changes in state park plans, is scheduled to meet Sept. 12.
Gaddis called the project “secretive” and said they weren’t supposed to talk to co-workers about it. When he would present a draft plan, he said it would come back with edits that he believes were relayed from the Governor’s office to the DEP, although he doesn't know how much, if any, input DeSantis had.
More:High schools to Congress: Rising concern about Jonathan Dickinson State Park development
Environmentalists also had concerns that the one-hour meetings that had been scheduled simultaneously throughout the state to hear public comments were insufficient.
Opposition to the plans was so passionate that Gaddis said he was worried for the safety of himself and colleagues tasked with presenting them at the meetings.
“I found out we were going to have all the meetings in an hour and then a hard stop at 4 p.m.,” Gaddis said. “We thought we may be having to escape for our lives.”
While Jonathan Dickinson was the only park with golf courses proposed, Anastasia State Park in St. Johns County and Topsail Hill Preserve State Park in Walton County would have gotten 350-room lodges under the proposals.
The historically significant Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, which was the first beach in Broward County to open to Blacks after seven years of civil rights struggles, would have gotten up to four pickleball courts.
Other state parks that were considered for amenities that range from disc golf to new "glamping" accommodations included Camp Helen in Bay County, Grayton Beach in Walton County, Hillsborough River in Hillsborough County, Honeymoon Island in Pinellas County and Oleta River in Miami-Dade County.
DeSantis addressed the public rancor Aug. 28. He said he did not approve the park projects and called them “half-baked” and “nowhere near ready for prime time.” DeSantis did acknowledge that the Oklahoma-based nonprofit charity Folds of Honor was behind the golf course plans. It was pitching the plans as the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation.
"Here's the thing, I'd rather not spend any money on this, right?" DeSantis said. "If people don't want improvements, then don't do it."
Eric Draper, who was director of the Florida Park Service for four years through 2021, said he thought DeSantis was trying to deflect blame from his office.
"It seems clear this idea was shopped at the governor's office and pushed to DEP," Draper said. I don't think the governor looks at every little detail but it was unfortunate that the DEP was such an enthusiastic defender of it for days after it was clear it was a very bad idea."
Gaddis said he was fired for writing a summary of what was going on in a Word document on his work computer and sharing it. He said he confessed to the leak when confronted, and was put on administrative leave on Aug. 30.
On Saturday, Aug. 31, he got a letter of dismissal in the mail. It says he violated department policies by, among other things, acting in a manner unbecoming a public employee.
Gaddis is being heralded as a hero on social media for his courage. As of noon Tuesday his GoFundMe campaign was up to $57,000. He had set a goal of just $10,000.
“I just happen to be a guy in the middle of all this and the clock was ticking, and I figured someone has to step up to the plate and stop the madness,” Gaddis said.
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She coversreal estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com.Help support our local journalism; subscribe today.
