One Cortez structure is caught in a legal net cast by the state.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection continues to seek enforcement of a 2019 ruling against Raymond Guthrie Jr. with the aim of demolishing a stilt house he built on pilings in 2017 in Sarasota Bay off Cortez.
The DEP learned of the house on the water from Islander reporting in 2017. There had been no applications for permits to build the house — which Guthrie claimed as a historic net camp — but containing modern amenities, like a kitchen, bathroom and air conditioning.
The legal battle began in 2018 when the DEP sued Guthrie, known locally as Junior. The DEP said Guthrie built the house on pilings in the bay without permission on sovereign state submerged lands.
A judgment Feb. 25, 2019, went in the DEP’s favor, instructing Guthrie to dismantle the structure.
However, from Feb. 21, 2021, to Aug. 2, 2023, the DEP took no action for prosecution, according to online court records.
So on May 4, 2023, 12th Circuit Judge Edward Nicholas granted the defense’s motion and dismissed the case, citing the DEP’s failure to prosecute.
But the DEP continued pursuing Nicholas’ order to remove the stilt house, and, in November 2023, the case was reopened based on the DEP’s claim it did not receive proper notification of court deadlines.
During a November 2023 hearing, the court recommended the DEP and Guthrie resolve the dispute within 120 days.
Cortez business owner Karen Bell, also a board member of the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage, has worked to stop the removal of the structure, which she and Guthrie maintain is a net camp with historic value.
Net camps were used to clean, dry and store cotton nets. Their usage declined with the use of monofilament nets, according to the Cortez-based Florida Maritime Museum website.
“We’ve had support from the community, and we’ve had support from, at one time, the county commission,” Bell said. “The county wrote a letter, years and years ago, saying they wanted to see this iconic structure remain.”
“I would bet you that 95% of Manatee County wants that left there but yet state employees have decided they are not negotiating and there’s no middle ground,” Bell continued.
Bell said Guthrie made three attempts to resolve the dispute with the DEP but the state declined them.
In a March 28 motion, Cameron Polomski, assistant general counsel for the DEP, asked the court to “impose appropriate sanctions, including but not limited to the incarceration in the county jail for no more than six months or until the defendant purges the contempt by completing the removal of the structure or any remedy this court deems just.”
Guthrie’s attorney, Robert Schermer, responded. He wrote that the DEP is “anxious and demanding that this structure be removed, despite photographic evidence and sworn testimony that a structure existed in that spot since the 1950s.”
Schermer said the state did nothing to enforce any law regarding the structure until 2018.
A case management conference is set for Wednesday, May 1.
The Islander reached out to the DEP by email April 23 and April 25 but, as of Islander press time April 29, there was no response.
The Islander also reached out to Guthrie, who declined comment April 25.