Another deadline to demolish Raymond Guthrie Jr.’s house in Sarasota Bay near Cortez’s commercial docks has come and gone.
And the structure — built on pilings over the water — remains standing.
Guthrie told The Islander Jan. 24 he would “maintain the status quo” and keep the house standing on the waterfront for the foreseeable future.
He filed a motion Jan. 14 for a stay of enforcement of 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas’ order requiring him to remove the structure by the Jan. 24 deadline, but he hadn’t received a court response as of Jan. 24.
For three years, Guthrie has been locked in a legal battle with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, which safeguards the state-owned Sarasota Bay waters where the stilt house stands on pilings.
Guthrie maintains the structure is a historic “net camp” where, until the advent of monofilament nets, cotton fishing nets were stored by commercial fishers, including his father and grandfather.
The structure resembles a residential home, with basic utilities, a living area and a deck.
The DEP maintains the house was illegally built without state permits and successfully argued the case in court in February 2019.
Nicholas first ordered Guthrie to remove the 1,200-square-foot structure in February 2020, with a deadline to demolish the house last summer. The deadline was extended at Guthrie’s request, but the stilt house stood when it passed.
So the DEP filed a motion for contempt.
Nicholas’ order from November 2020 denied the DEP motion for contempt but granted DEP’s request for Guthrie to remove the structure by Jan. 24.
Guthrie’s Jan. 14 motion states legislators, including state Sen. Jim Boyd and state Reps. Will Robinson and Tommy Gregory, would not fight to stay the demo order but voiced support for preserving the structure during a January meeting and indicated they would pursue legislative action to protect camps.
“Guthrie has expressed his willingness and desire to abide by the decisions of the DEP as enforced by this court, but seeks additional time for legislative action to run its course,” the motion reads.
A.P. Bell Fish Co. owner Karen Bell, who intervened in the legal battle in support of Guthrie, told The Islander Jan. 20 that she wasn’t sure what would happen if Guthrie’s latest motion went unrecognized by the court before the deadline.
“We’re trying to (fight), but it’s just been frustrating,” Bell said. “The goal is to get it before the Legislature and let the citizens of Florida have a say as opposed to just the DEP because most everyone we’re aware of wants it to stay.”
“I don’t want to fight with anybody, but I certainly would like the consideration that the public gets an opportunity to have their say,” she added.