CORTEZ – Cortez Village Marina clients who use the privately-owned Hunters Point canal may soon be named as additional defendants in a 2022 canal dispute-related lawsuit.
The Sun recently obtained a letter sent to a marina client. The letter was written by attorney Susan Martin, who represents Hunters Point developer Marshall Gobuty’s Cortez Road Investments and Finance (CRIF) ownership group. When completed, the Hunters Point development will include 86 solar-powered homes.
According to Gobuty, approximately 50 marina clients received the first wave of letters eventually sent to all known marina clients who use the facility that provides wet and dry storage for approximately 275 boats.
The marina is located just east of the portion of the canal privately owned by CRIF. In 2016, Gobuty purchased the undeveloped Hunters Point property and the man-made canal created in the 1950s.
The canal provides marina clients with their only direct access to the nearby Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). The canal also provides ICW access for several canal-side homeowners and to visitors at the Buttonwood and Holiday Cove RV resorts.
Dated March 20, Martin’s letter says, “CRIF is involved in a lawsuit with MHC Cortez Village LLC, aka Cortez Village Marina, regarding the unauthorized use and trespass upon the private canal owned by CRIF. Upon information and belief, you are storing a vessel at the marina and utilizing the CRIF private canal to access the Intracoastal, Anna Maria Sound or the Gulf of Mexico. There are ‘no trespassing’ signs posted on the private canal that are disregarded by the marina’s boat slip lessees and customers. Each trip down the canal by marina lessees is a separate trespass for which CRIF is seeking compensation in the circuit court.
“You are not authorized to utilize the CRIF private canal. You must immediately cease your use of the private canal. Any additional use of the private canal by you or another person utilizing your vessel with your consent is considered by CRIF to be an additional act of trespass. CRIF intends to amend the complaint to include lessees of the marina utilizing the CRIF private canal,” the letter says.
On April 4, The Sun emailed MHC Cortez Village attorneys Matthew Chait and Devon Woolard seeking their comments on the letter. As of April 8, neither Chait nor Woolard responded.
DISPUTE HISTORY
In 2021, the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) issued CRIF an environmental resource permit that was supposed to allow for the construction of 49 boat slips along the triangular-shaped Hunters Point property. The docks have not yet been built.
MHC Cortez Village challenged the permit based on the assertion that the new docks would impede navigation for marina clients using the canal and negatively affect marina revenues.
In May 2022, in response to the permit challenge, CRIF filed the still-pending civil lawsuit that seeks a court order prohibiting Cortez Village Marina clients from using the canal.
Less than a week later, and in response to MHC Cortez Village’s concerns about the canal being too narrow to accommodate two-way boat traffic, CRIF filed a separate lawsuit against several canal-side homeowners along the western end of the canal.
That still-unresolved lawsuit alleges those homeowners’ docks and boat lifts violate county code by extending more than 25% into the canal. In their legal responses, those homeowners contend their docks and lifts were legally permitted by Manatee County when installed and did not extend more than 25% into the canal when installed.
PERMIT HEARING
In late 2022, administrative law judge Bruce Culpepper presided over a multi-day hearing pertaining to the marina’s permit challenge.
During the hearing, it was established through documents and expert testimony that CRIF owns the portion of the canal that extends from the western edge of the Cortez Village Marina property to the humpback bridge at 127th Street West.
The hearing featured much testimony and debate about the potential impact the Hunters Point docks would have on canal navigability. As a safety precaution, Gobuty offered to implement one-way boat traffic on the canal at timed intervals for all incoming and outgoing boats.
In January 2023, seven wooden pilings were placed in the canal near the marina basin. Some signs say, “You Are Entering a Private Canal, Please Monitor VHF Channel 9,” “Inbound Traffic Every 15 Minutes on the Hour,” and “Outbound Traffic Every 15 Minutes on the Hour.” To date, specific one-way travel times and intervals have not been established or enforced.
PERMIT RULING
In March 2023, Culpepper issued a written recommended order in favor of CRIF, to be forwarded to the SWFWMD governing board for a final ruling.
“All witnesses agree that following construction of the dock, boats will still be able to freely travel through the canal one at a time. The proposed dock will not interfere with or prevent a single boater from traversing from the bridge to an upland property. The evidence shows that the dock will not reduce the safe navigational width of the waterway any more than the (humpback) bridge at the entrance to the canal, which is 15 feet wide; or the narrow bottleneck just before the marina, where mangrove growth restricts safe movement to one boat at a time,” Culpepper’s order said.
“It is uncontroverted that the placement of the dock in the canal will affect navigation to some degree. Similarly, the evidence and testimony do not show that the construction of the dock will cause more than a mere inconvenience to boaters, much less result in a significant impediment to navigation. Based on the evidence and testimony presented, the undersigned finds that Cortez Road 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’s order said.
MHC Cortez Village appealed the SWFWMD governing board’s ruling and the upcoming oral arguments in the appeal case are scheduled for Tuesday, April 23.
Related coverage:
Marina appeals Hunters Point canal ruling
