The state's bond programs, designed to preserve environmentally sensitive lands for parks and conservation efforts, may be used to purchase the 200-acre Cypress Gardens, a well-known tourist attraction in Polk County that closed on Sunday.
Lawmakers and county officials are meeting today to discuss the issue, while Gov. Jeb Bush directed Department of Environmental Protection officials to meet with the park's owners yesterday to discuss the possibility that bonds could be issued under the Florida Forever program.
Cypress Gardens was Florida's first theme park. It was best known for its water-skiing shows, lush flowering gardens, and moss-draped cypress trees. It closed for good on Sunday after 67 years in operation.
While most tourist attractions in Florida have weathered the lingering recession and the tourism downturn that began Sept. 11, 2001, the park had been experiencing a decline in attendance for many years, according to officials.
Attendance in March was down by 42,000 from the same month last year.
On Tuesday, Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, asked Sens. J.D. Alexander, R-Winter Haven, and Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, to work with local officials and business and environmental leaders to explore options for the privately owned park.
"Cypress Gardens is one of Florida's oldest theme parks and a tourism pioneer that helped cement our state's tourist-friendly image," King said in a press release. "With the closing of this park, Florida is not only losing hundreds of jobs, it is losing the opportunity to enjoy the pristine grounds that many Central Floridians have enjoyed for nearly seven decades."
Dockery said she and other lawmakers are concerned that the land could be sold for housing developments.
Cypress Gardens is located along Interstate 4 almost midway between Tampa to the west and Orlando to the northeast. Both cities have lured tourists away from Cypress Gardens over the years, park officials said.
