Governor DeSantis signed the Florida State Park Preservation Act on May 22, 2025.  Florida’s State Senate and House representatives unanimously approved this bill, which is designed to manage conservation of parks and protect passive recreation. The bill prevents building pickleball, golf courses, and tennis courts in State Parks.  Its intent is to leave the land mostly undisturbed.

​-- The bill requires that state parks be managed for-outdoor recreational uses, aiming for the greatest benefits to the public.  For Lake June Park this translates to protecting swimming, fishing, boating, picnicking, flag football, Frisbee play and other green-space activities. 

​-- “State parks are wildly popular, I mean wildly, almost unheard-of bipartisan support among Florida citizens, the electorate, and lawmakers. The support is impossible to ignore,” Cris Costello of the Sierra Club said. 

The Lake Placid Town Council voted 3-2 last November to proceed with building 8 pickleball courts, with lighting, in this park’s green space,  despite the signatures of 501 people who opposed the pickleball courts and paving plan for good reasons. Mayor John Holbrook broke the tie vote with a yes, stating that “not one person called me to voice opposition to the pickleball courts” in the park.  That statement ignores the 501 opposing signatures that were presented to Council at an earlier meeting and entered into the meeting record.  It further ignores that pickleball supporters had his contact information while citizens opposing did not.

It is widely understood that pickleball is an excessively noisy sport. The pings of hard balls striking a hard surface, coupled with up to 32 players with fans consistently yelling and cheering shatter all hope for a relaxing and peaceful environment that many park users and families have come to enjoy.  Further, the Miracle League of Highlands County has a ballfield in Lake June Park open to all athletes ages 3 years to adult who have an identified disability.  They expressed concern at a Town Council meeting regarding the impact from the noise of Pickleball on some of their athletes and fans.  The noise will also impact autistic people and veterans with auditory disorders who picnic and play in the green space area,  and/or swim/fish in the lake. 

The Town Council approved the original plan at a cost of $439,939, which expanded to $699,274 to include an inadequate and unacceptable parking plan. This included multiple grants: $200,000 from the Florida Recreational Development Assistance Program (FRDAP), $299,274 from the Highlands County Regional Parks & Recreation Committee (RPAC), and $200,000 from Lake Placid Town reserves.

This petition does two things:

​1.  It requests that the Lake Placid Town Council, the Highlands County Commissioners, RPAC and our local State Legislative representatives support the above-mentioned State Park Preservation Act and apply its provisions to Lake June Park -- that is, do not build pickleball courts in Lake June Park; build the courts elsewhere in town.

​2. It requests that our County and State representatives initiate actions to authorize that the approved grants for pickleball courts be allowed to relocate the courts to a more acceptable location by residents inside the town’s limits.   

​​Both requests are needed to protect an environment that for years has encouraged picnicking, family outings, children’s play, fishing, and boating.

Lake Placid Town Council contact info and how they voted for Pickleball in Lake June Park:

Yes - Mayor John Holbrook:  mayorjmholbrook@gmail.com

Yes - Vice Mayor Debra Worley:  debraannworley@gmail.com

Yes - Nell Hayes:  frewinhays@aol.com

No - Joy Eberhardt: jeberhardt@mylakeplacid.org

No - Colleen Charles:  ccharles@mylakeplacid.org

Please email the above members to voice your opposition to pickleball courts in Lake June Park.

Or, call the Lake Placid Government Center at 863-699-3747 and leave a message for each council member, especially the mayor, to not allow pickleball courts in Lake June Park. Elected Officials can be contacted by calling and leaving a message which will be forwarded to Town Council member (s).

Also, email the following State & County government officials asking them to support the concept of the Park Preservation Act and not allow pickleball courts in our prime waterfront park in Lake Placid.  Ask them to initiate action to authorize using the approved grant funds to build the courts at a more acceptable location in the town inside the boundaries of the town.

Highlands County Board of Commissioners:

Arlene Tuck, Chairwoman and Town of Lake Placid District representative atuck@highlandsfl.gov

Don Elwell, Chairman of (RPAC)    delwell@highlandsfl.gov

Kevin Roberts     kroberts@highlandsfl.gov 

Chris Campbell     ccampbell@highlandsfl.gov

Scott Kirouac         skirouac@highlandsfl.gov

FRDAP: Jeremy Pe:      Jeremy.Pe@floridadep.gov

Florida Senate Representative:  Erin Grall     Erin@ErinGrall.com

Florida House Representative:    Kaylee Tuck     kaylee@kayleetuck.com

Florida Governor:  Ron DeSantis GovernorRon.DeSantis@eog.myflorida.com

Last Note—the requests for donated money at the end when you sign this petition goes to this app not our cause so okay to skip thru those questions