If you love something, let it go.
And watch it grow?
Between late May and early June, Raymond “Junior” Guthrie transferred ownership of his Sarasota Bay stilt-house to Cortez Core Inc., Guthrie and A.P. Bell Fish Co. owner Karen Bell said July 22.
Guthrie built the house in 2017 on pilings over the water near the A.P. Bell Fish Co. docks in Cortez.
A recent addition is mostly unexplained.
Bell, president of the nonprofit Cortez Core, said she formed the nonprofit years ago to address community issues that couldn’t be managed by other Cortez organizations, such as the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage.
The transfer is part of a stilt-house preservation plan Manatee County commissioners and local state legislators laid out in letters in April addressed to then-Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Noah Valenstein.
The DEP successfully sued Guthrie in 2018 for building the stilt-house on state-owned submerged land. Extensions on court orders that the structure be torn down afforded Guthrie time to demonstrate support for protecting the structure.
Guthrie, Bell and the support letters characterize the structure as a net camp or net camp replica.
While historic net camps — built over the water in the 19th century to house cotton fishing nets — were barren shacks, Guthrie’s 1,200-foot structure has electricity, sliding-glass doors and other home amenities.
Part of the stilt-house protection plan would be to adapt the building to resemble more closely net camps of old, but Bell said alterations wouldn’t take place until the DEP lays out its expectations.
However, an alteration — a second-story observation deck — was added sometime in July.
Guthrie said July 23 the add-on allows shade on the back deck but declined further comment.
Charting the course
On May 11, Robert Schermer, Guthrie’s attorney, filed a motion for an extension on a stay of enforcement on the demolition order, citing the letters of support from officials.
As of The Islander’s press time July 26, the DEP had not taken action on the motion for an extension.
Despite the DEP inactivity, “the department’s position remains unchanged, and we are committed to enforcing Florida’s environmental laws,” Shannon Herbon, DEP public information manager, wrote in a July 20 email to The Islander.
Built on the assumption of squatters’ rights, Bell hopes state legislators will work with the DEP on a submerged land lease to allow the structure to remain.
Bell said some Cortez fishers had used the structure for net mending and, in the past, some derelict boats were temporarily moored there.
Under Cortez Core, Bell said she envisions the structure being accessible to fishers and members of the community.