CORTEZ – The Cortez Village Marina ownership group is appealing a recent Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) governing board ruling that permits the construction of 49 residential docks/boat slips at the 86-home Hunters Point Resort & Marina community being developed in Cortez.
The Cortez Village Marina ownership group, MHC Cortez Village LLC, filed its appeal with the Second District Court of Appeal in Tampa on June 22. Typically, an appeal of this nature consists of a small panel of appellate judges reviewing the case documents and rulings and making a determination without retrying or relitigating the case. The appeal process often takes up to a year or more.
On May 23, the water management district’s governing board unanimously ruled in favor of adopting a final order that allows SWFWMD to issue an environmental resource permit (ERP) to Hunters Point developer Marshall Gobuty and his Cortez Road Investments & Finance Inc. ownership group. The permit allows for the installation of 32 new boat slips and the replacement of 17 existing slips along the privately-owned canal that surrounds the Hunters Point property on three sides. When the final order was issued, MHC Cortez Village LLC had 30 days to file an appeal.
When asked about the appeal, Gobuty said, “I expected them to appeal. I don’t expect to lose the appeal, but I can’t take the risk of building the docks yet. The appeal continues to negatively impact the development as we are not able to start building any more canal-side homes on the west and northwest sides of the community. Construction will continue on the east side and the interior home sites.”
Past rulings
The governing board’s ruling pertained to the permit challenge MHC Cortez Village LLC initiated in 2021. MHC Cortez Village LLC claimed the Hunters Point docks would significantly impede canal navigation for the Cortez Village Marina clients that use the canal to access the nearby Intracoastal Waterway at the west end of the canal. Cortez Village Marina is located slightly east of the Hunters Point property and canal.
The governing board’s final ruling was based upon the recommended order that Administrative Law Judge Bruce Culpepper issued on March 7 after presiding over a multi-day hearing in late 2022 on behalf of the Florida Department of Administrative Hearings (DOAH).
During the DOAH hearing, it was established by documentation and testimony that the majority of the privately-owned canal built in the 1950s and previously owned by the Cipriani family was sold to Gobuty when he purchased the Hunters Point property in 2016.
According to documents and testimony, MHC Cortez Village does not own or control any portion of the canal west of the marina property and Gobuty never authorized marina clients to use his portion of the canal.
“Based on the foregoing findings of fact and conclusions of law, it is recommended that the Southwest Florida Water Management District enter a final order granting Cortez Road Investments application for the permit to build a dock (docks) in the canal and issue ERP Individual Construction Major Modification Permit 43032468.003,” Culpepper stated in his recommended order.
“Based on the evidence and testimony presented at the final hearing, the undersigned finds that Cortez Road (Investments & Finance) and the district presented competent substantial evidence establishing Cortez Road’s entitlement to the permit. Conversely, the marina did not meet its burden of demonstrating that the district should not issue the permit,” Culpepper stated in his recommended order.
