TARPON SPRINGS — Last fall, Indian Rocks architect Stephen J. Spencer built a chickee hut on stilts in the waters off Anclote Key.
When Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials asked why he would do that without bothering to apply for permits, he had a simple answer:
Because he had hired a member of the Seminole Indian tribe to build the chickee, he contended, the structure wasn’t subject to any local, state or federal rules.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Chickee hut rises from waters near Anclote Key, but builder claims it’s exempt from state rules
Turns out he was wrong. But all the mistake cost him is some money.
After an investigation, DEP officials have decided to let the 20- by 50- by 20-foot hut remain standing. Last month Spencer paid a $2,500 fee.
So ends the case of the mysterious chickee hut.
“The department found that Mr. Spencer’s ‘chickee hut’ was a permissible structure based on Florida state rules, but it would have required … (a) permit,” DEP spokeswoman Shannon Herbon explained in an e-mail to the Tampa Bay Times.
The agency said it worked out an agreement with Spencer rather than fine him or make him take it down. The DEP assessed him a $2,500 fee “for the costs and expenses associated with the investigation and resolution of this matter,” she said.
A call to Spencer’s architecture firm last week was answered by a man who did not identify himself. The man said he could relay a message to Spencer, but after hearing a reporter’s questions, hung up.
Most submerged land in Florida is owned by the state, but there are remnant parcels scattered along the coast that have been in private hands for decades. This piece of submerged land near the state park belongs to a trust controlled by Spencer. That means he can build there — with a permit, DEP officials decided.
Thate records show Spencer wrote a check for $10,000 to chickee hut builder William Johns of Hollywood last July 22, agreeing to pay him an additional $15,000 when the job was completed. The contract he signed identified Johns as a “Native American Contractor.”
The distinctive chickee hut — palmetto thatch over a cypress log frame — was born of necessity, not art. Seminoles used to live in a type of log cabin. But in the early 1800s, as U.S. troops pursued them through the marshes of South Florida, tribal members came up with the chickee design as a “fast, disposable shelter while on the run,” according to the tribe’s website.
Since those days, though, tribal builders have gotten more creative with their construction, Carrie Dilley, author of the book Thatched Roofs and Open Sides: The Architecture of Chickees and Their Changing Role in Seminole Society, said in an interview last year.
However, she said, building one over open water does not follow tribal tradition.
Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines
Subscribe to our free DayStarter newsletter
You’re all signed up!
Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.
Explore all your options
“Usually they’re built on higher ground away from the water,” Dilley said.
She said there’s another reason why building one on the water was also unusual:
“The traditional chickee didn’t have a floor.”
Contact Craig Pittman at [email protected]. Follow @craigtimes.