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Bradenton Beach: Year in Review

Bradenton Beach: Year in Review

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News, Cortez.

PALM TREES

Bradenton Beach: Year in Review
Coconut palm trees were delivered to Bridge Street in May for planting. – Leslie Lake | Sun

In a partnership between the City of Bradenton Beach and developer Shawn Kaleta, 80 coconut palm trees were planted along Bridge Street on April 23. At an April 3 Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting, the board approved the partnership in which Kaleta accepted responsibility for maintenance of the trees and indemnified the city against liability for damage caused by falling coconuts. The agreement was signed by Kaleta and Mayor John Chappie on May 28. Since the planting of the palm trees, at least five have fallen during storms and have been removed by the city.

PINES TRAILER PARK

Bradenton Beach: Year in Review
The Pines Trailer Park was flooded by Hurricane Helene. Many residents are being allowed to rebuild. – Leslie Lake | Sun

Following water intrusion into the mobile homes at Pines Trailer Park from Hurricane Helene on Sept. 26, residents were told at an Oct. 17 city commission meeting that FEMA guidelines related to any hurricane-related water covering their floors deem the properties to have major damage. That damage assessment triggered a city floodplain ordinance requiring the mobile homes to be elevated in compliance with city code. In-person inspections by the city building official, however, determined that any storm damage repairs to 83 of the 86 the mobile homes would cost less than 50% of the pre-storm structure value, in compliance with the FEMA 50% rule. In early December, city Building Official Darin Cushing notified residents that they would be allowed to repair their structures with the proper permits. The city waived permit fees until April 30.

HURRICANE DAMAGE IN CORTEZ

Bradenton Beach: Year in Review
Gov. Ron DeSantis and FEMA Executive Director Kevin Guthrie meet with Star Fish Co. owner Karen Bell to view hurricane damage in Cortez. – Leslie Lake | Sun

Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with state and federal officials, including FEMA Executive Director Kevin Guthrie, visited Star Fish Co. in Cortez on Oct. 11 to discuss state-wide hurricane clean-up efforts and to survey local hurricane damage.

A community supply distribution hub for all Cortez residents was in place at the Sunny Shores Park clubhouse. The hub opened shortly after Hurricane Helene and ended in December.

Sunny Shores Trailer Park got electrical power restored in October with the help of Hydro One, a Canadian-based electricity transmission and distribution provider. Working as part of a Florida Power and Light Emergency Response Team, the crews made their way through piles of debris to install electrical equipment.

The 12th Annual Cortez Stone Crab and Music Festival, scheduled for Nov. 9-10, was canceled due to the impacts of back-to-back hurricanes. The festival typically draws more than 5,000 attendees to Cortez and features live music, crafts and local seafood.

NET CAMP

Following a six-year legal battle between Raymond “Junior” Guthrie and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) over the existence of a net camp stilt structure in Sarasota Bay, the agency prevailed in May and Guthrie was ordered to dismantle and remove the building. FDEP claimed the net camp was built on state submerged lands and Guthrie countered that the structure he rebuilt in 2017 was replacing a historic structure that had been in his family for decades. Net camps were wooden shacks used by fishermen to hang fishing nets to dry. According to historic photos, there were dozens of net camps on the bay off Cortez. One net camp adjacent to Guthrie’s remained, but was destroyed in September by Hurricane Helene.

BRADENTON BEACH GOVERNMENT

CRA board member David Bell resigned from the board following the March 6 meeting. Bell, a CRA member for five years, wrote in his resignation letter that there has been too much focus on parking versus circulation, accessibility, safety, environmental issues and aesthetics.

Deborah Scaccianoce was sworn in on March 21 as Ward 1 commissioner. She filled the vacant seat left by former Commissioner Jake Spooner. Spooner resigned in December 2023 citing his opposition to the state’s financial disclosure requirement.

City commissioners voted on Sept. 5 to modify the makeup of the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) board from a seven-member to a five-member board. The five-member board will consist of commissioners and act as a governing body as opposed to the prior board makeup as a recommending body.

The Bradenton Beach City Commission voted unanimously on Sept. 19 in favor of naming Police Chief John Cosby permanent director of public works. Cosby had served in the role temporarily following the May departure of former Public Works Director Tom Woodard.

Bradenton Beach resident and retired engineer Scott Bear was sworn in as city commissioner for Ward 2 on Nov. 18. Bear, who ran unopposed, filled the seat formerly held by city commissioner Marilyn Maro.

SAND SIFTING

In a large-scale beach restoration project to replace sand pushed across Gulf Drive during back-to-back hurricanes, tons of beach-grade sand are being sifted, cleaned and returned to beaches at the Coquina Beach processing site. Construction-grade darker sand, such as is found in parking lots, is being transported to the eastern part of the county for future use in road building and infrastructure projects. Manatee County is operating the project and expects to be reimbursed by FEMA debris funds.

PAID PARKING LOTS

The Pines Trailer Park parking lot at 201 First St. N. was converted to a public paid parking lot on Dec. 5. The lot was used by approximately half of the 86 Pines homeowners at a cost of $750 per year and provided the only parking facility for them. Pines Park Investors LLC owns the parking lot and the mobile home park.

One of four paid parking lots owned by Shawn Kaleta was brought into compliance by the city’s 2019 deadline by adhering to several stipulations. The applicants chose to close the remaining three lots at 102 Third St. N., 206 Bay Drive N. and 207 Church Ave. All requirements for the paid parking lot at 101 Bridge St. were met.

HURRICANE CONDEMNATIONS

A 1930 Gulf Drive bungalow was demolished on Oct. 23 after storm surge from Hurricane Helene pushed the 739 square foot home to the end of 12th Street South before coming to a stop and sustaining significant damage along the way.

The City of Bradenton Beach released a list of 25 condemned properties due to hurricane damage. At a Dec. 4 city commission special emergency meeting, Public Works Director and Police Chief John Cosby told commissioners that the homeowners are responsible for the demolition and removal of the condemned buildings.

A condemnation notice on Gash Caudill’s Gulf Drive home was rescinded following an in-person inspection by City Building Official Darin Cushing.

SEA TURTLES, SHOREBIRDS

A nesting sea turtle wandered onto Gulf Drive on June 19 and was struck and killed by a vehicle. The turtle had nested in nearby sand dunes and was likely disoriented by streetlights illuminating a crosswalk, according to Anna Maria Island Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring Executive Director Kristen Mazzarella.

A least tern colony began nesting in Bradenton Beach the week of May 6. Their numbers grew to include 45 birds, with 20 of them sitting on eggs, along with five new hatchlings. Rainfall during the week of June 10 raised concerns about the colony’s survival. At that time many of the eggs had been incubating for more than 25 days and were expected to be close to hatching. Not only did the colony survive the storms, but throughout the weekend five chicks could be seen peering out from under their parents, according to Mazzarella.

Sea turtle nesting season came to an early end due to the remaining nests being washed out by Hurricane Helene. Anna Maria Turtle Watch and Shorebird Monitoring’s largest fundraiser, Turtle Watch Wednesday, was canceled in 2024 due to hurricane damage on the Island.

HURRICANE RECOVERY

Bradenton Beach celebrated hurricane recovery and reopening of businesses on Dec. 7 with a Christmas on Bridge Street celebration. Following the storm surge from Hurricane Helene on Sept. 26, many parts of the city were covered with more than 4 feet of sand pushed up from local beaches. A concerted cleanup effort with FDOT and public works crews removing sand and debris from local roads allowed the celebration to take place.

Guthrie net camp being demolished under court order

Guthrie net camp being demolished under court order

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Community News, Cortez, Featured.

CORTEZ – After a six-year legal battle between Raymond “Junior” Guthrie and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), the net camp he built in 2017 in Sarasota Bay is being dismantled.

FDEP filed a civil suit against Guthrie in 2018 claiming that he had constructed an enclosed docking structure over sovereign submerged lands in Sarasota Bay without a permit.

The FDEP prevailed and on May 7, 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas ordered the structure to be removed in 120 days, making the deadline Sept. 4.

Guthrie maintained that his family had a net camp in that location since his grandfather built one in the 1940s.

In 2017, Guthrie rebuilt the structure “after it had been damaged by a hurricane, using the same pilings and stringers as existed at the time,” according to Manatee County court statements submitted by Guthrie in 2018.

The lone remaining net camp off Cortez – much older than Guthrie’s – is being renovated by the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH).

Karen Bell, owner of A.P. Bell Fish Co., and a strong supporter of the net camp, expressed disappointment at the removal of the building.

“I just think it’s a shame that DEP or FL didn’t see the significance to this village of these two remaining net camps,” Bell wrote in a text to The Sun. “They represent how fishermen worked in the past and tell the story of how Cortez was settled by North Carolina fishermen so long ago.”

The FDEP did not respond to a request for comment.

Net camp refurbishment continues

Net camp refurbishment continues

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Community News, Cortez.

CORTEZ – The historic net camp just offshore of the fishing village is being refurbished thanks to the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) and some local commercial fishermen.

Nathan Meschelle, FISH board member and vice-president of the Cortez chapter of the Organized Fisherman of Florida (OFF) and FISH board member Lance Plowman gave an update on the net camp repairs at the FISH board meeting on June 3.

“We’re getting the roof on there and that front deck before the hurricanes start,” Meschelle said. “We’ll be working on it the next few weekends and try to get that roof on there.”

The net camp, known as the Curt Johns net camp, had fallen into disrepair, and until recently, had a hole in the roof, debris on the back deck and an unnamed person living in it.

OFF members conducted a coastal cleanup in April and brought back boatloads of debris from the net camp to be discarded. The net camp occupant was trespassed and renovation began.

The structure is owned by John Guthrie. FISH undertook the renovation to maintain the historic building.

Net camps are wooden structures built in the water on stilts that were used by fishermen to hang hemp and cotton fishing nets to dry before the advent of modern materials. According to historic photographs, there were once dozens of net camps on Sarasota Bay off Cortez.

The historic Curt Johns net camp is one of two off Cortez. It is next to the 2017 net camp owned by Raymond “Junior” Guthrie, which Florida courts have ordered to be removed at the request of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection due to its non-historic status and the state’s ownership of the submerged land upon which it was built.

Civil case in net camp dispute dismissed

Civil case in net camp dispute dismissed

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Community News, Cortez, Featured.

CORTEZ – A civil suit filed in 2018 by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) against Raymond Guthrie, Jr. over his net camp building in Sarasota Bay has been dismissed.

Net camps were wooden shacks used by fishermen to hang hemp and cotton fishing nets to dry. According to historic photographs, there were dozens of net camps on the bay off Cortez.

“Net camps are small simple structures and provide space to store nets and other fishing gear,” according to the Florida Maritime Museum.

In a motion initiated by 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas on Feb. 23, parties were notified that since no filings in the case had been made in more than 12 months, the case would be dismissed if no stay is issued or approved prior to the expiration of a 60-day period.

On May 4, Nicholas signed a Motion and Notice/Order of Dismissal.

Listed as lawyer for the plaintiff (DEP), Bradenton-based Attorney Robert C. Schermer, declined to comment on the dismissal via email on May 13.

DEP did not respond to a request for comment.

The civil case was filed Feb. 6, 2018, to have Guthrie remove the 1,200 square-foot structure.

The DEP complaint claimed Guthrie built the structure without permission on sovereign state submerged lands. Guthrie contended that his family previously had a net camp in that spot and the structure was protected under the 1921 Butler Act.

In May of 2018, A.P. Bell Fish Co., north of the structure, filed suit against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) asserting its ownership of both the net camp and the submerged lands.

Bell claimed the structure has existed since at least the early 1900s and, with the submerged lands, is protected by the Butler Act, which awards title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands. The law was repealed in 1957 but continues to affect title to submerged lands improved prior to its repeal.

Guthrie was widely supported by Cortez residents and legislators, many of whom recalled net camps along the coast in years past.

The Manatee County Commission voted in March 2018 to support Guthrie’s effort to keep the structure standing.

“Given historic photos documenting the presence of multiple net camp structures, the reconstruction of this single structure to recapture the essence of the historic Cortez fishing community should be supported with the appropriate state permits,” the commission wrote to Florida DEP Secretary Noah Valenstein.

An April 15, 2021 letter from the Manatee County Board of Commissioners to Valenstein and signed by chairperson Vanessa Baugh, stated in part “The net camp has played an inseparable part of the gill and stop net fisheries with the historical village and is referenced in the National Register of Historic Places. Preservation of this structure will help preserve the essence of the Cortez fishing community and the understanding of the cultural context of the village.”

Net camp headed back to court

Net camp headed back to court

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Cortez.

CORTEZ – For the second time, Raymond Guthrie Jr. has asked a local court to delay its order to demolish a structure he built on pilings in Sarasota Bay in 2017.

In a document filed on May 11 by Bradenton attorney Robert Schermer, Guthrie asked the 12th Judicial Circuit Court in Manatee County to grant a 90-day extension to allow four Florida legislators to help supporters find a way to save what Guthrie calls a net camp.

Net camps, which once dotted the Cortez waterfront in Sarasota Bay, were used to clean, dry and store cotton nets. They declined in the 1970s when netmakers began using monofilament nets, and were made virtually obsolete by the 1994 Florida gill net ban.

Citing prior net camps his family built on the same spot, Guthrie claimed ownership of the property, but the court ruled that the state owns the submerged land under his structure and ordered its demolition by Jan. 24, granting a 60-day extension on March 1 to allow the Florida Legislature time to act to save the structure.

While the Legislature did not act, Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Bradenton), Rep. Tommy Gregory (R-Manatee), Rep. Michele Rayner (D-Manatee) and Rep. Bill Robinson (R-Manatee) sent a letter on April 29 to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) – which initiated the complaint against Guthrie – suggesting the agency work with them to save the net camp.

“It has been rebuilt multiple times and is currently a more modern building than the previous structure,” the legislators wrote. “While the Guthrie Net Camp has lost some of its historic charm, it is an important part of the history of Cortez. We hope to find a way to save and preserve this small piece of Florida history for future generations to enjoy.”

In Guthrie’s request to the court for a second stay, his attorney states that Guthrie and his siblings are in the process of providing a bill of sale for the structure to an unnamed not-for-profit group that could apply to DEP to lease the submerged land under the structure.

Manatee County commissioners wrote DEP in their second letter of support on April 15 that while the structure does not conform to state standards, they believe that such an organization pledged to “the historical interpretation, facade reconstruction and subsequent maintenance of the structure will restore the net camp to its historical character.”

Whether the structure is owned by a not-for-profit organization is irrelevant, according to DEP spokeswoman Shannon Herbon, who said the agency intends to pursue the demolition.

The case has not yet been set for a hearing.

Legislature last resort for net camp

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Featured.

CORTEZ – Raymond Guthrie Jr. has 60 days to convince the Florida Legislature to save the net camp he built in Sarasota Bay off the commercial fishing village before a court order to demolish it takes effect.

Manatee County 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Ed Nicholas ruled today that if the Legislature decides before it adjourns 60 days from the session’s start on March 2 that the structure should be protected, “that would certainly be a factor that the court would take into consideration.”

There is no harm in seeing “if the Legislature wants to consider the potential to grandfather this camp, as it appears they have done to others at some point throughout the state,” Nicholas said in his ruling on Guthrie’s motion to stay the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)’s Oct. 8, 2020 order to demolish the structure by Jan. 24, 2021.

The order resulted from DEP prevailing in its claim that the state owns the submerged land under Guthrie’s structure and that its construction was illegal.

Guthrie built the stilt structure in 2017 on what he says is the site of his family’s three former net camps, built over 70 years in Sarasota Bay.

A.P. Bell Fish Co. manager Karen Bell recently asked local legislators to request that DEP stay its demolition order, giving them time to draft legislation to protect the camp during the session. Legislators advised her to seek a stay in court.

“I’m happy,” she said. “Now it’s time to talk to the Legislature and see if they can help.”

Bell previously appealed in vain to Gov. Ron DeSantis to overturn the demolition, writing, “These camps are iconic to this community. Artists come from all over the world and have memorialized these structures in their work. I do not understand how my state is not supportive of our history.”

“I think there’s a failure to appreciate the historical nature of this,” Guthrie’s Bradenton attorney, Robert Schermer, told the court. “This is, in our view, no different than the historic school in Cortez, the historic museum; this is a part of the history of the village.”

Cortez is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Net camps, which once dotted the Cortez waterfront in Sarasota Bay, were used to clean, dry and store cotton nets. They declined in use when net makers began using more durable fibers and were made virtually obsolete by the 1994 Florida gill net ban.

Today, only Guthrie’s structure and a historic net camp remain off Cortez, the latter restored by the not-for-profit group, the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH).

Bell also previously intervened unsuccessfully in the lawsuit, claiming the structure has existed on the spot since at least the early 1900s and was protected by the 1921 Butler Act. DEP said the Butler Act did not protect the most recent structure because it had been allowed to deteriorate beyond use.

Net camp reroofed as suit planned to stop demolition

Net camp reroofed as suit planned to stop demolition

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Cortez.

CORTEZ – Karen Bell has directed her lawyer to sue to stay the order to demolish a stilt structure known as a net camp just offshore of her commercial fish house, A.P. Bell Fish Co.

After the Manatee County legislative delegation offered verbal support for the net camp at a public meeting on Jan. 6, Florida Sen. Jim Boyd (R-Manatee), Rep. Tommy Gregory (R-Manatee) and Rep. Will Robinson (R-Manatee) made it clear to Bell that their hands are tied on extending the demolition deadline of Sunday, Jan. 24, won by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court on Oct. 8, 2020.

Bell had intended to ask the legislators to request that DEP grant a 120-day extension on the demolition order, allowing the Florida Legislature time to draft legislation to protect the camp during the session that begins on Tuesday, March 2.

The delegation made it clear almost immediately that the request was futile.

“Because it’s a court order, they have no authority. I was told to ask the judge for a stay,” Bell said.

Meanwhile, back at the net camp, a work crew appeared on the roof the day after the hearing, prompting rumors to fly about whether the stilt structure was in the process of being demolished as ordered.

It was not.

Guthrie, who built the camp in 2017 and claims ownership based on prior net camps his family built on the spot, instead reroofed the structure last Thursday, Bell said.

Net camps, which once dotted the Cortez waterfront in Sarasota Bay, were used to clean, dry and store cotton nets. They declined in use when netmakers began using more durable fibers, and were made virtually obsolete by the 1994 Florida gill net ban.

Today, only Guthrie’s structure and a historic net camp remain, the latter restored by the not-for-profit Cortez group, the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH).

The 12th Judicial Circuit Court has ruled that the state owns the submerged land under Guthrie’s structure, and that the construction was unpermitted and therefore illegal.

Bell appealed in vain to Gov. Ron DeSantis to overturn the demolition order by Manatee County Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas, saying that the Guthrie camp had been rebuilt in the same spot as previous Guthrie camps and on some of the same pilings.

Previously, Bell had unsuccessfully intervened in the lawsuit, floating the argument that the structure has existed on the spot since at least the early 1900s, and, with the submerged lands, is protected by the 1921 Butler Act.

The act awards title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands. Repealed in the 1950s, the act continues to affect title to submerged lands that were “improved” with construction prior to its repeal.

DEP conceded that aerial images show that a smaller, dilapidated structure existed where Guthrie built his structure, but said the Butler Act did not protect it because it had been allowed to deteriorate and become unusable.

Other stilt structures stand on state submerged lands in Charlotte, Lee and Pasco counties, but DEP maintains that those structures were not allowed to collapse before being rebuilt.

Bell said she is hopeful that her most recent lawsuit to stay the demolition order will be heard before the Jan. 24 deadline to tear down the net camp.

As she wrote to Gov. DeSantis: “These camps are iconic to this community. Artists come from all over the world and have memorialized these structures in their work. I do not understand how my state is not supportive of our history.”

Fish house owner in Catch-22

Fish house owner in Catch-22

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Awards, Awards 2019, Environment, Outdoors, Second Place, Special Sections.

CORTEZ – As the Florida Legislative session winds down this week, Karen Bell, of A.P. Bell Fish Co., is caught in a “Catch-22” – she says she’s not allowed to talk to her state elected official about resolving an issue in his district because she is a party in litigation on the issue.

Bell said she has tried to set up an appointment with Florida Senate President Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton) to discuss sponsoring legislation to allow Raymond Guthrie Jr.’s stilt structure to remain standing in Sarasota Bay just south of her fish house.

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2019

Guthrie built the structure in 2018 on the location of several former Guthrie family net camps, which were used by commercial fishermen to clean, dry and store nets, Bell said.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) says it owns the submerged land under the net camp and has ordered Guthrie to demolish the structure, but Bell says her company owns the submerged land pursuant to the 1921 Butler Act, which awarded submerged lands to upland property owners who made improvements, such as building structures, to the submerged lands.

She is trying to prove ownership in court. But because of her pending suit against the DEP, Bell said she was told by Galvano’s assistant that he can’t speak to her.

“It was suggested by DEP staff who came to Cortez and met with us that we talk with our local delegation about submitting special legislation to allow the camp to remain. They told us that other counties (Pasco, Lee and Charlotte) had done this successfully,” Bell wrote in a February email to Galvano’s legislative assistant, Amanda Romant.

Romant replied by email that “Our office has reached out to the Department of Environmental Protection for information regarding the status of the Guthrie Net Camp case. Based on the details they shared, you are involved in pending litigation in the 12th Judicial Circuit that prevents our office from getting involved. If these legal issues are resolved in the future and you would like to update our office again, please feel free to do so.”

Bell responded to Romant that she had no other choice than to intervene legally to prevent the camp from being destroyed, but that she would be willing to “drop the legal opposition if we can get a bill to protect the camp.”

She also noted that the Manatee County Commission passed a resolution last year in support of allowing the building to remain.

The Sun contacted Galvano’s office for an interview on the issue and was told in an email from assistant Katherine Betta that Galvano would respond. Instead, he asked his staff for an update from DEP, she wrote in a subsequent email. That update consisted of a history of court dates in the case, and advised that the next hearing is on June 4.

The Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court’s website lists the next hearing as June 3.

“This is ridiculous,” Bell said. “I don’t understand why a lawsuit should prevent me from talking to my elected representative.”

Cortez net camp tangled in lawsuits

Cortez net camp tangled in lawsuits

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Cortez.

CORTEZ – Junior Guthrie’s net camp is safe – for now.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) won a summary judgment against Raymond Guthrie Jr. in 12th Judicial Circuit Court in Bradenton this month to force him to demolish the 1200-square-foot structure that he built in May 2017 on submerged land in Sarasota Bay.

Guthrie claims he was entitled to rebuild the net camp on the submerged land, south of the fishing village of Cortez, because his family of commercial fishermen had maintained a series of net camps there to mend, clean and store fishing gear for several generations.

The DEP claims he built the structure illegally without a permit on state-owned submerged lands.

Cortez net camp tangled in lawsuits
The Guthrie net camp in Sarasota Bay off Cortez in February 2019. – Cindy Lane | Sun

But while DEP won a victory, the case is not over – Judge Edward Nicholas stayed the demolition order and fines until a lawsuit filed last year by A.P. Bell Fish Co. is concluded.

A.P. Bell President Karen Bell claims that the structure and the submerged land belong to her company, a fish house on land north of Guthrie’s structure, basing her claim on the 1921 Butler Act, which awards title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands.

The law was repealed in the 1950s but continues to affect title to submerged lands that were improved with structures prior to its repeal.

DEP maintains that the Butler Act does not apply to the case because it requires the structure built over the submerged land to have been continuously connected to the upland property, and that the Guthrie family’s structures were freestanding.

Net camps used by commercial fishermen in other Florida counties, including Charlotte, Lee and Pasco, have been legally rebuilt under the Florida Forever Act, Bell said, adding that she has asked state Sen. Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton) to take legislative action to preserve Guthrie’s structure.

The case is set for trial in April.

Cortez Guthrie

Bell claims ownership of disputed Guthrie property

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Cortez, Featured.

CORTEZ – A third party has joined the legal battle over the net camp that Raymond Guthrie Jr. built in 2017, and the disputed submerged lands under it in Sarasota Bay.

A.P. Bell Fish Co., north of the structure, filed suit against the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) on May 3 in 12th Judicial Circuit Court in Manatee County, asserting its ownership of both the net camp and the submerged lands.

FDEP sued the wrong party when it filed a complaint against Guthrie in February ordering him to remove the 1200-square-foot structure, claiming he built it without permission on sovereign state-owned submerged lands, according to Bell Fish Co. Manager Karen Bell, who also sued to intervene in the DEP vs. Guthrie case.

“We’re claiming that we have title to the net camp and the submerged lands, and we are intervening because they’re impacting our ownership,” she said. “We own it. We want it there. We’re not going to make him leave.”

In the motion to intervene in the action between FDEP and Guthrie filed on May 4, Bell claims the structure has existed since at least the early 1900s, and, with the submerged lands, is protected by the 1921 Butler Act, which awards title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands. The law was repealed in the 1950s but continues to affect title to submerged lands that were “improved” with construction prior to its repeal.

FDEP concedes that historic aerial images show a smaller structure where Guthrie built his structure, but the smaller structure became dilapidated, negating a Butler Act claim, according to spokeswoman Shannon Herbon.

The motion to intervene traces Bell’s ownership of the real estate to the 1800s when Guthrie, Fulford and other families from North Carolina settled the area. By the early 1900s, wooden structures built on pilings – called “net camps” or “fish camps” – were numerous in the bay off Cortez, used for supply storage, net mending, and living quarters, and were connected to the mainland by piers, according to the lawsuit.

Bell asserts it is entitled to a disclaimer from the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund of the State of Florida, named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit, acknowledging Bell’s ownership.

“A.P. Bell will suffer irreparable harm if BOT and its agent, FDEP, are allowed to continue in their quest to remove and destroy the historic Guthrie Fish Camp structure under the guise that it is on sovereignty submerged lands without this circuit court’s determination of A.P. Bell’s Butler Act ownership claims, in violation of A.P. Bell’s property and due process rights under the Federal and Florida Constitutions,” the lawsuit asserts.

A hearing has not yet been set in the case.

Guthrie denies DEP allegations

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Cortez.

CORTEZ – Raymond Guthrie Jr. denies all but one of the 21 allegations in the state’s order to tear down the net camp he built in Sarasota Bay off the fishing village of Cortez last summer.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) filed a complaint in Manatee County 12th Circuit Court on Feb. 6 to have Guthrie remove the 1200-square-foot structure, claiming he built it without permission on sovereign state submerged lands in an Outstanding Florida Waterbody. Other claims include that he may have polluted the water and failed to take proper measures to protect manatees during construction.

Representing himself without an attorney, Guthrie admits in his response to the order only that the property is in Manatee County.

In his response, filed April 27 with the court, he denies all other allegations of the order, including nine responses that he “is without knowledge as to the truth or falsity of the allegations of this paragraph, and therefore denies same,” repeating five times that he “denies the allegations of this paragraph,” and repeating twice that he “is without knowledge as to the nature of FDEP’s action, and therefore denies same.”

The DEP Office of General Counsel is reviewing Guthrie’s response to determine its next steps, according to DEP spokeswoman Shannon Herbon.

Guthrie claims he built the structure on submerged land where his family once had a net camp, said his representative, Joanne Semmer, president of Fort Myers-based Ostego Bay Environmental Inc. Net camps are wooden structures built on pilings in the water where cotton nets – now obsolete – were stored.

He claims that he owns the submerged land under the 1921 Butler Act, which awarded title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands, she said. The law was repealed in 1957 but continues to affect title to submerged lands improved prior to its repeal.

DEP concedes that historic aerial images show a smaller structure where Guthrie built his structure, but the smaller structure became dilapidated, negating a Butler Act claim, according to Herbon.

Commission, village support

The Manatee County Commission voted in March to support Guthrie.

“Given historic photos documenting the presence of multiple net camp structures, the reconstruction of this single structure to recapture the essence of the historic Cortez fishing community should be supported with the appropriate state permits,” the commission wrote to DEP.

Cortezians Karen Bell, of A.P. Bell Fish Co. – which overlooks Guthrie’s structure – and Capt. Kathe Fannon, who operates a tour boat business at Bell’s Star Fish Co., also support Guthrie.

Fannon calls net camps a “birthright,” recalling numerous net camps in the waters off the fishing village, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The net camp could be protected by that designation, and by the Manatee County Cortez Village Historical and Archeological Overlay District. The Cortez Village Community Vision Plan of 2000, included in the district’s design guidelines, supports “maintaining the historic fishing culture of Cortez.”

The net camp also could be protected within the Florida Working Waterfront program; Cortez is one of 24 Designated Waterfronts Florida Partnership Communities, a program created in 1997 to address “the physical and economic decline of traditional working waterfront areas,” according to a DEP publication.

Guthrie net camp

County supports Guthrie net camp

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Cortez, Featured.

CORTEZ – The Manatee County Commission has voted to support Raymond Guthrie Jr. in his fight to keep the net camp structure he built in Sarasota Bay last year on what he says is submerged land where his family once had a net camp.

The commission voted on March 20 to send a letter of support for the structure to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which has ordered Guthrie, known locally as “Junior,” to tear it down.

DEP claims that a title search shows that the state owns the submerged land under the unpermitted, 1200-square-foot structure in Sarasota Bay, an Outstanding Florida Waterbody.

Guthrie net camp
The DEP has ordered Junior Guthrie’s net camp, far right in water, to be torn down. A restored historic net camp is left of the structure in the water. – Cindy Lane | Sun

Cortez commercial fishermen long used net camps – wooden shacks built on pilings in the water – to mend, clean and store cotton fishing nets; attached net “spreads” were used to hang the nets to dry. They declined in use when netmakers began using polyester, and were made obsolete by the 1994 Florida gill net ban.

“Included in the National Register of Historic Places, the net camps played an inseparable part of the gill and stop net fisheries trade within the historic village. Reconstruction of these historic structures provides the appropriate viewshed to understand the cultural context of the village,” according to the commission’s letter to DEP. “Given historic photos documenting the presence of multiple net camp structures, the reconstruction of this single structure to recapture the essence of the historic Cortez fishing community should be supported with the appropriate state permits.”

According to historic photographs, dozens of net camps once dotted the bay off Cortez, similar to the one built by the Cortez not-for-profit Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) as a historic artifact just east of Guthrie’s structure.

Cortez net camp
The Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) built this restored net camp off the Cortez fishing village. – Cindy Lane | Sun

That history underlies Guthrie’s claim, which is based on the 1921 Butler Act that awarded title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands, according to Guthrie’s representative, Joanne Semmer, president of Fort Myers-based Ostego Bay Environmental Inc. The law was repealed in 1957, but continues to affect title to submerged lands improved prior to its repeal.

“We have to prove it was there before 1951, then you can still apply for the footprint,” she said. “It takes a lot of research.”

DEP concedes that aerial images show that a smaller, dilapidated structure existed where Guthrie built his structure, according to a November 2017 order that requires the structure’s removal, assesses $6,500 in fines and costs, and warns that Guthrie could incur up to $10,000 a day in fines.

However, DEP contends that the old structure eventually became unusable, negating a Butler Act claim, spokeswoman Shannon Herbon said.

Like many Cortezians, Karen Bell, of A.P. Bell Fish Co. – which overlooks Guthrie’s structure – joins the county in support of Guthrie.

“I would be thrilled if every single family that had one could build them again,” she said.

DEP’s Office of General Counsel filed a complaint with the Manatee County 12th Circuit Court on Feb. 6 to have Guthrie remove the structure, but DEP was unsuccessful in serving papers to Guthrie because they did not initially have his correct address, Herbon said, adding that after the corrected complaint is served, Guthrie will have 20 days to respond.

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Guthrie ordered to remove building in bay

Guthrie net camp

Guthrie ordered to remove building in bay

Written by Cindy Lane on . Posted in Community News, Cortez.

CORTEZ – Raymond “Junior” Guthrie Jr. plans to contest the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)’s final order issued on Friday, Nov. 17 requiring him to remove the unpermitted structure he built in Sarasota Bay earlier this year south of A. P. Bell Fish Co.

The order assesses Guthrie $6,500 in fines and costs, and states that up to $10,000 a day in fines could be assessed.

Guthrie failed to properly respond within the required 20 days to an Oct. 27 notice of violation, which is deemed an admission of guilt, according to DEP. Department officials claim the state owns the submerged land that lies in Sarasota Bay, an Outstanding Florida Waterbody.

Guthrie can appeal the final order, DEP spokesperson Shannon Herbon said, adding that he told DEP that he was using the structure for seagrass research.

Guthrie did respond to DEP’s notice, but struck out three items that indicated he admitted liability, said Karen Bell, manager of A.P. Bell Fish Co., who is working with him to save the structure.

“It brings character back to the community,” she said.

Bell said that Guthrie intends to file an appeal under the 1921 Butler Act, which awarded title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands. The law was repealed in 1957, but continues to affect title to submerged lands improved prior to its repeal.

Bell said she offered to place the 1,200-square-foot structure on her submerged lands lease to satisfy DEP requirements. But Guthrie contends the structure should be grandfathered because he built it where his family built a net camp.

Net camps were wooden shacks used to hang hemp and cotton fishing nets to dry; they became obsolete when netmakers began using other materials. According to historic photographs, dozens of net camps once dotted the bay off Cortez. Guthrie’s structure is west of a net camp that the Cortez not-for-profit Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) rebuilt as a historic artifact.

Aerial images show that a smaller, dilapidated structure existed in the place where his “enclosed docking structure” was later built, according to the DEP order.

Guthrie net camp
In a historic photograph, a net camp appears in Sarasota Bay off A.P. Bell Fish Co. in Cortez, near where the disputed Guthrie structure was built this year.

However, “At times it was completely unusable, so that’s a problem for the Butler Act,” Herbon said. “You need to show historical consistency.”

Guthrie also would have to sign a consent order, including the items he previously crossed out, she said.

The case was investigated pursuant to a complaint from The Islander newspaper, Herbon said.