st. JOHNS COUNTY — So was anger as news spread the proposal Saturday to replace 600 acres of preserved land with private companies.
Locals and lawmakers on both parties expressed distrust that another secret attempt to develop beloved public land would soon emerge. A year ago, the public rebelled when the DeSantis administration came up with plans to add golf courses and hotels to the state parks.
State Rep. Kim Kendall, a Republican from St. Augustine, sent an email explosion to all members of the Florida family around 4:30am, asking for the support of their opposition. She also emailed the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and asked the Tampa Bay Times to reveal the identity of the person or company behind the proposal. She said on Saturday afternoon that the agency had not yet responded.
Commissions within the state Environmental Division are scheduled to convene on Wednesday to vote for the land deal. On the general agenda of that meeting, companies wishing for land are listed as Upland LLC only. The entity was created in February and filed with the state does not list only general business services companies, making it unclear what its origins are.
“Someone needs to tell me something other than ‘Upland LLC’,” Kendall said Saturday. ”
She is calling on fellow lawmakers to oppose what she said was “directly opposed to the spirit of legislation that we just passed” to ban the development of state parks.
The 600 acres hanging on the latest deal are part of the Guana River Wildlife Management Area in northeastern Florida. It is owned by the state, but not a state park.
![Various birds will be seen on the Guana River on Friday, May 16th, 2025. The Guana River wildlife management area can be exchanged by state officials for private property owner Upland LLC as part of the land exchange. In return, the state receives patchwork of plots in four different counties totaling 3,066 acres.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 620 413"/%3E "Various birds will be seen on the Guana River on Friday, May 16th, 2025. The Guana River wildlife management area can be exchanged by state officials for private property owner Upland LLC as part of the land exchange. In return, the state receives patchwork of plots in four different counties totaling 3,066 acres.")
In return for that land, the company will trade around 3,066 acres of constellations in other plots of the four counties with the state. The agenda for Wednesday’s meeting said it encourages state staff to approve a committee called the Acquisition and Repair Council and approve the transaction. This will send the decision to final votes to Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General James Usmier and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.
Rep. Allison Tanto, a Democrat from Tallahassee, agrees that losing preserved land to development is a “cruelty.”
“The land is the most luxurious, most authentic, uninterrupted beach land I could have seen,” she said. “It would be a disaster to see it being mowed and seeing the multi-million dollar property built on it.”
Kendall and Tanto, along with many protesters, had heard the same name rumoured to be behind the proposal. Dreamfinders Homes, CEO Patrick Zarapsky lives in the area. Salpski previously donated to DeSantis’ presidential campaign and was appointed by the governor to the University of Florida Board of Directors.
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However, neither Kendall nor Tanto were able to independently verify the speculation. Because Dream Finders Homes previously built a community called Uplands in Colorado, Zalupski’s name is listed among several Florida companies that contain the name that includes the word, but none exactly match the LLC listed in the proposal.
Rob Riva, the general counsel of Dream Finders Homes, sent an email on Saturday in denial of The Times The Connection.
“Dream Finders is not involved in this swap,” he said.
Hundreds of residents protested in St. John’s County, a deep Republican neighborhood, with signs of homemade products on Saturday. Many of them had taken them to the streets a year ago to oppose the state park’s proposal.
“I’m whipping here. Once again, our land is under attack,” said Sarah Arnold, a St. John’s County commissioner who attended the demonstration. “I’m tired of being here again, angry and annoyed.”
She had a sign depicting the slogan accompanied by the Gopher turtle. “I may be late, but I know this transaction is wrong!”
When the midday sun fell, the car passing by “Stop the swap!” roved as if assisted. Pack of motorcyclists cruising the A1A passed the protest and cheered from the crowd and revved the engine.
Over the years, 38-year-old Stacey Strumpf said he has seen former Wild and Green counties converted to homes, golf courses and buildings. Since 1980, St. John’s County’s population has grown six times to over 320,000.
“Even if you don’t live here, Floridians should be seeing what’s going on in St. John’s County,” Strumpf said. “If they’re coming for us, they’re coming for the rest of the state too.”
![This 600-acre portion of the Guana River Wildlife Management Area, southeast of Jacksonville, could be exchanged by state authorities for private property owner Upland LLC as part of a land exchange that conservationists said would lose important habitat. In return, Florida will receive patchwork of plots in four different counties totaling 3,066 acres.](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 620 464"/%3E "This 600-acre portion of the Guana River Wildlife Management Area, southeast of Jacksonville, could be exchanged by state authorities for private property owner Upland LLC as part of a land exchange that conservationists said would lose important habitat. In return, Florida will receive patchwork of plots in four different counties totaling 3,066 acres.")
