A judge in May dismissed a case involving a dispute over a house built on pilings in the water off Cortez but the state stands by a 2019 order to take down the structure.
The legal battle over the structure begun in 2018, when the Florida Department of Environmental Protection filed a suit against its builder, Raymond Guthrie Jr.
The DEP, first in notices to Guthrie and then in its lawsuit, argued that Guthrie built the structure without permission on sovereign state submerged lands.
Guthrie has maintained the stilt house is — and was — a net camp, which historically were used to clean, dry and store cotton fishing nets.
Guthrie, with support from the Manatee County commission, the state legislative delegation and Karen Bell of Cortez’s A.P. Bell Fish Co. and Star Fish Co. contended that his family previously had a net camp in the location and the structure was protected under old state law.
A five-year legal battle followed.
In February, 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas notified the DEP and Guthrie that no filings in the case had been submitted in more than a year. He said he intended to dismiss the case if no stay of judgment was issued or approved over the next 60 days.
With no action taken by either side, Nicholas issued a notice of dismissal May 4.
On May 30, Brian Humphreys, DEP public information specialist in the southwest district, emailed a statement to The Islander.
He said, “DEP is aware of the court’s recent order, but it’s the department’s position that the court’s 2019 final judgment, which ordered Mr. Guthrie to remove the unauthorized structure, is still valid and enforceable.”
Humphreys also wrote, “As this process is ongoing, we are limited in our ability to comment further at this time.”
In February 2019, Nicholas entered a summary judgment in the DEP’s case against Guthrie, finding in favor of the state, but the judge also stayed the execution of the order.
Bell, responding to a June 2 text from The Islander, declined to comment.
Guthrie, by phone June 3, also declined to comment.