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Tag: Cortez net camp

State pursues net camp demolition

State pursues net camp demolition

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

CORTEZ – The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is proceed­ing to have Raymond “Junior” Guthrie remove his net camp from Sarasota Bay just off the Cortez commercial fishing docks.

“This case is still in the post-judgment phase to compel compliance with the court’s final judgment, which ordered Mr. Guthrie to remove the unauthorized structure,” FDEP spokesperson Brian Humphreys wrote in a March 14 email to The Sun. “In November, Mr. Guthrie was ordered by the court to show cause by March 5, 2024, as to why this final judgment should not be enforced and why sanctions should not apply. “

Humphreys said the deadline has passed and there has been no response from Guthrie, and FDEP is evaluat­ing its next steps.

“As this process is ongoing, we are limited in our ability to comment further,” Hum­phreys wrote.

The civil suit against Guth­rie was filed by FDEP on Feb. 6, 2018 in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court when the agency claimed that Guthrie had constructed an unauthorized enclosed docking structure on sovereign submerged lands in Sarasota Bay, and ordered its removal.

Guthrie maintained that his family previously had a net camp in that spot and the structure was protected under the 1921 Butler Act, which awards title of submerged lands to adjacent waterfront property owners who made permanent improvements on the submerged lands.

A judgment was granted in favor of the FDEP on Feb. 25, 2019, and Guthrie was ordered to remove the structure.

On May 4, 2023, 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Edward Nicholas signed an order dismissing the case due to failure to prosecute, but on Nov. 2 it was reopened at the request of FDEP, which claimed it had not been given proper notice.

FISH board votes to restore net camp

FISH board votes to restore net camp

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

CORTEZ – Known as the Curt Johns net camp, the historic structure off the coast of the fishing village has fallen into disrepair and the Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage (FISH) board voted at its March 4 meeting to begin restoration.

FISH board member Nathan Meschelle brought up the topic of the net camp at the meeting.

“I’d like people’s opinion of the giant polka-dotted elephant in Cortez that nobody wants to talk about a whole lot. It is the net camp. I feel like it’s very iconic for Cortez,” Meschelle said. “It’s embarrassing looking like that. For me as a fisherman in Cortez, I try to keep my boats well-maintained because I take pride in what I do. This is my home and when people come visit that’s what they see and that’s what they think of us.”

The building had been refurbished by FISH and has been occupied by an unnamed person for several years. Currently, the building has a hole in the roof and there are boats moored next to the building.

“My question is, who owns it?” Meschelle asked. “We need to find out who has ownership.”

“Curt Johns built that around World War II vintage. There are no existing documents from Curt Johns,” Alan Garner said. “It’s clearly FISH’s, because FISH essentially paid for the labor and the materials to have it restored.”

“We refurbished it because we realized we needed to do that before it fell down,” Garner said.

“It’s falling apart now,” Meschelle said. “We need to find out who has ownership.”

“Here’s the one thing that I would say,” FISH President Kim McVey said. “That thing would not be here for him to move into if FISH had not rebuilt it.”

“So, it’s FISH’s?” Meschelle asked.

“That’s how I look at it,” McVey said.

Net camps were wooden structures used by fishermen to hang hemp and cotton fishing nets to dry.

According to historic photographs, there were once dozens of net camps on the bay off Cortez. The Curt Johns net camp is one of only two off the village’s shores and is next to the recently rebuilt Guthrie net camp.

Noting that the net camp is a historical artifact in need of restoration, Meschelle made the motion “to trespass the present occupant of the net camp to begin a restoration project of the historic Curt Johns net camp.”

The motion was approved by the board.

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.”