TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that a controversial proposal by his administration to build golf courses, pickleball courts and hotels in state parks is “going back to the drawing board.”

When asked by reporters on Wednesday, DeSantis sought to distance himself from the plan, which prompted hundreds of protesters to gather in the parks and sparked rare bipartisan opposition, including from Florida Republican U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott.

“If people don’t want improvements, then they shouldn’t do it,” DeSantis said. “They’re not doing anything this year. They’re going to go back and basically listen to people.”

The Republican governor’s Department of Environmental Protection unveiled plans for the Great Outdoors Initiative last week and had scheduled an hour of public hearings near the nine affected parks. Amid growing protests, a golf course proposal in one of the parks was scrapped and the agency postponed the hearings until at least next week – if they take place at all.

The plan for golf courses at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in southeast Florida was already being scrapped before the governor’s statements on Wednesday. The development’s main proponent, a nonprofit called the Tuskegee Dunes Foundation, withdrew from the plan over the weekend.

DeSantis’ press secretary Jeremy Redfern had touted the developments in the state parks as a necessary measure to expand recreational opportunities in the state.

“Teddy Roosevelt believed that public parks serve the welfare and enjoyment of the people, and we agree. No government has done more than we have to preserve Florida’s natural resources, create conservation areas and keep our environment pristine,” Redfern said in a statement to the Associated Press last week. “But it’s high time we made public lands more accessible to the public.”

But DeSantis broke his public silence on the issue on Wednesday and tried to distance himself from the proposal.

“I didn’t approve it. I never saw it,” DeSantis said. “A lot of it was just half-baked and not ready for prime time.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Environmental Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Rep. Lindsay Cross, a Democrat from St. Petersburg who spoke at one of the protests against the park plans, called for more transparency about how the proposal came about – and who pushed the initiative.

“While I appreciate that the governor listened to the people and elected officials of both parties when he called for a pause, I find it hard to believe that he was unaware of these plans. Our state agencies operate largely under the direction of the executive branch. The governor must explain how this decision-making process works so we can avoid future desecration of our parks,” Cross said.

Opposition to the initiative has crossed party lines in a state often divided by partisan politics, with leading Republican lawmakers and members of Congress raising questions, as have Democrats and environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and the Cleo Institute.

DeSantis rarely faces opposition from Republican lawmakers, and when he does, he has been known to seek revenge.

But it seems that a political line has been drawn around Florida’s state parks. Park advocates say they are a bastion of wilderness in a state where vast expanses of sandy beaches and mangrove forests have long given way to condos, motels and mall souvenir shops.

“We are grateful that the governor has listened to the people of Florida and expressed his belief that the natural resources of state parks are a top priority,” said Julie Wraithmell, executive director of Audubon Florida.

Hundreds of protesters gathered at state parks and outside the Department of Environmental Protection headquarters in Tallahassee on Tuesday to voice their opposition to the plans. About 150 people gathered at a rally outside Honeymoon Island State Park on the central Gulf Coast, where the plan calls for building pickleball courts near pristine white-sand beaches. Many protesters carried signs with slogans such as “Save, don’t pave” and “Parks not profits.”

“After eight days of public outrage, DeSantis was forced to back down on plans to develop nine state parks in Florida – a great credit to all the people who came together to resist. Yet we will not rest until the so-called Great Outdoors Initiative is completely dead,” said Eve Samples, executive director of Friends of the Everglades. “We will continue to remain vigilant to protect Florida’s natural landscapes, waters and wildlife.”

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Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.

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Kate Payne is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Kate Payne and Curt Anderson, The Associated Press