A part of the Cortez waterscape might be removed if the Florida Department of Environmental Protection gets its way.
The DEP wants a court to compel Raymond “Junior” Guthrie to demolish a stilt house he built just a short distance from the working docks in Cortez.
The legal battle over the stilt house began in 2018 when the DEP filed suit against Guthrie. The DEP contended the structure had been built by Guthrie without permission on sovereign state submerged lands and judgment was issued in favor of the DEP February 25, 2019, instructing Guthrie to dismantle the structure.
But, May 4, 2023, 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas dismissed the case, citing the DEP’s failure to prosecute. However, the DEP continued pursuing fulfillment of the judge’s original order to take down the stilt house and in November 2023 the case was reopened based on the DEP claim it had not had proper notification of the court’s deadlines.
Net camps were originally used to clean, dry and store cotton nets. Their usage declined with the use of synthetic net materials more resistant to rot, according to the Florida Maritime Museum website.
Guthrie maintains the house is a historic net camp. However, it has the typical amenities of a family home, including a kitchen, bathroom, living area, water and power from a generator.
Neighbors complained that it was a party house and a nuisance.
Guthrie maintains his family had a net camp in the location and the structure is protected under the 1921 Butler Act, which awards title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who have made permanent improvements on the submerged lands.
Guthrie was instructed by the court to justify by March 5 why sanctions shouldn’t be imposed.
Guthrie had not responded to the DEP.
Karen Bell, owner of the A.P. Bell Fish Co., 4600 124th Street Court W., has tried in the past to save the net camp. She said she had heard of the suit’s resurrection from a lawyer in March.
She said the DEP has doggedly pursued the camp’s demolition.
“They’ve warned me to the point where I feel like I can’t do anything anymore,” Bell said. “DEP has spent a bunch of money. I have tried to get help from all over the place and I am just basically giving up.”
“I don’t understand why they don’t see the cultural value of the structure. There’s so few of them left in Florida. Why would they ever want one of the last few remaining ones removed. I don’t understand it,” Bell added.
In 2021, Guthrie and Bell said ownership of the “camp” had been transferred to Cortez Core, a nonprofit Bell founded in 2019.
The Islander reached out to Guthrie March 20 by phone but there was no response.