Manatee County commissioners have signaled their support for a “replica” historic net house in Sarasota Bay near Cortez.
Prompted by A.P. Bell Fish Co.-Star Fish Co. owner Karen Bell, the commissioners sent a letter April 5 favoring net camp replicas and the reconstruction of a single structure with “appropriate state permits” to Mary Yeargan, director of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Net houses, storage for nets often built in groups or camps, and net spreads, drying platforms for cotton nets, were used by Cortez fishers in the early 1900s. Over the years, storms destroyed the structures and they fell out of use with the advent of monofilament nets.
The letter’s reference to a “single structure” points to the ongoing conflict between the DEP and Raymond Guthrie Jr. of Cortez.
Guthrie built the 1,211 square-foot “residence” in 2017, with a metal roof and air conditioning, on pilings in submerged lands without state permits.
Located about 350 feet from the A.P. Bell and Star docks, the house is next to a 1935 net house, which was renovated by the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage after a 1995 hurricane.
In May 2017, the DEP began its investigation into the house on pilings in the water and determined the state owns the land where it is situated.
The agency issued notices, violations and demanded Guthrie reduce the building footprint or remove the structure — to no avail.
In February, the DEP filed a two-count complaint in 12th Circuit Court seeking Guthrie’s compliance to the agency’s prior administrative orders. His response is expected at the end of the month.
Throughout the conflict, Guthrie’s representative, Joann Semmer of Ostego Bay Environmental Inc. of Fort Myers, has maintained the structure should be allowed with a Butler Act disclaimer, which grandfathers certain structures built before 1951, claiming it once was a net camp.
Bell said in a January text, “These camps make Cortez what it is.”
Cortez artist Linda Molto and historian Mary Fulford Green dispute the Guthrie structure is a historic net camp.
“All I can say is it’s not a net camp — it’s a party house,” Molto said April 11.
Green agreed with Molto, saying it’s not a camp.
“It’s a house with air conditioning,” she said.
At the March 20 Board of County Commissioners’ meeting, Commissioner Steve Jonsson prefaced his request for a county board letter on net camps, saying he was introducing Bell’s request after checking with 12th Circuit Clerk of Court Angelina Colonneso and the clerk’s historian, Cathy Slusser.
“The DEP is in the process of taking their net camps … wanting to tear them down,” Jonsson said, “because it’s obviously Florida-titled property.”
Jonsson represents District 3, covering Anna Maria Island and Cortez.
The commission gave unanimous approval to Jonsson’s motion after Commission Chair Pricilla Trace called for a vote “to write a letter to support what Karen Bell is trying to historically do.”
Jonsson said April 12 he thinks the Florida Maritime Museum, managed by Colonneso’s department, would like the DEP to deed state-owned land with net camps to the museum and the letter was an effort to support the village’s historic district.
Bell has hired a Miami law firm to assist in her efforts, he added.
Asked for the DEP’s position on the county letter, agency spokeswoman Shannon Herbon responded April 11 in an email, saying the department and its attorneys will review it.
The DEP is open to receiving evidence or information in support of the Guthrie structure’s historic significance or its eligibility for a Butler Act disclaimer, she wrote.
“The department to date has not received any information to support this claim,” Herbon added.
Guthrie told The Islander in May 2017 he planned to conduct seagrass experiments at night from the house.
The DEP lawsuit seeks to enforce its November 2017 “final order” requiring the structure’s removal, $6,500 in fines and additional assessments “not to exceed $10,000 per day” plus investigative costs and expenses.
Guthrie was served a summons April 9 instructing him to file a written response within 20 calendar days.