Already facing a hefty bill to reimburse residents for legal fees they spent defending their private ownership of century-old boathouses near Lake Butler, the town of Windermere has sued them again — this time asserting its control over land surrounding the boathouses.

In the latest filing in circuit court in Orlando, from Shutts & Bowen, representing the town, insisted they are not re-litigating the earlier case in which a judge found “nothing equitable or fair” about Windermere’s years-long quest to seize the structures.

The town has filed a separate challenge with an appeals court over that ruling, and its next brief is due Aug. 17.

The new case asks a judge to determine who owns title to and has maintenance responsibilities for a small grassy upland strip between Pine Street and the man-made lagoon, where the five boathouses sit on wooden posts.

The sliver of land provides ingress and egress to the boathouses.

Windermere’s lawyers say maintenance of the lagoon is important not only for public safety but also for “overall navigability” into Lake Butler, a popular waterway for boating, fishing and other recreational lake activities.

In the new case, the town’s lawyers said the ruling last year by Circuit Court Judge John E. Jordan called into question ownership of the lagoon and adjacent land, and the town is in doubt concerning its rights and maintenance obligations.

They alleged in their filing that boathouse owners now claim to own portions of the lagoon and grassy upland.

Lawyers for the boathouse owners did not immediately respond to an email regarding the new filing.

But the latest case adds to their frustrations and costs.

“More town residents dragged into this for no reason and more taxpayer money wasted,” said Bo Siemian,  a co-owner of a boathouse. “I cannot even comprehend this level of financial irresponsibility and bullying by our town leaders.”

Since Windermere first moved to evict the boathouse owners in 2022, it has remained unclear why the town covets the small wooden structures that sit on posts in the lagoon. Their value to their owners, however, is not in question: The boathouses provide coveted access to Lake Butler, a space for water recreation and the largest of a chain of lakes in southwest Orange County.

After $637K spent in a losing legal cause, Windermere appeals boathouse decision

The new 83-page lawsuit once again recounts the history of those boathouses and the incorporation of the small town in west Orange County. The structures squat in a lagoon near Palmer Park, which is named for John Calvin Palmer, one of the town’s founding fathers, its first postmaster, and a former mayor who donated a large parcel of land in 1911.

Town Manager Robert Smith did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for the town’s updated investment in the legal challenges over the boathouses. Smith said last year the town had spent $637,000 on its own legal effort — and that was before officials decided to continue fighting, with an appeal in the first case and the filing of a second.

It was also before the town was ordered to pay the boathouse owners’ legal fees.

A cost estimate has not yet been filed with the court, but the boathouse owners have put their bill to date at more than $700,000.

shudak@orlandosentinel.com

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the attorneys representing Windermere in the current legal action against the boathouse owners. Shutts & Bowen is handling the suit, not GrayRobinson.