TARPON SPRINGS - Once the unofficial city center, the old pavilion at Sunset Beach hosted weddings, dances and fish fries. When the large, wood building caught fire in October 1963, firefighters fought the blaze for more than three hours and pumped water from the Gulf of Mexico to try to save it. The next day, a "constant stream of traffic" drove out to view the smoldering remains of the destroyed building, according to St. Petersburg Times articles. Generations of activists and civic leaders have envisioned it's replacement ever since. The city has received a $76,000 grant to build a new pavilion, though stricter building regulations will ensure it will be more modest than the original. But the plan is on hold while officials work out a pesky little issue: whether the beach belongs to Tarpon Springs.

The discrepancy came to light when the city tried to provide proof of ownership to the state agency that awarded the grant. The City Attorney's office was unable to find a deed of conveyance filed with the state.

Archived St. Petersburg Times articles show former city officials were informed in 1956 that Tarpon Springs did not have a title for the land. In May 1957, a state agency ordered the city to stop a dredging project to increase the size of the beach because of the missing title. A day later, the agency reversed itself after meeting with city officials, though no clear justification was reported.

The formerly submerged land, which was first dredged and filled by the city in the mid 1920s to create the public park, once belonged to the state.

The city has always maintained that the land was donated to the city in the 1920s by Greek immigrants Nick and Irene Nicholas. A plaque at the beach thanks them "for their generosity and vision."

But that's where things get murky. The City Attorney's office has not been able to verify the Nicholas family owned the land in question, said Assistant City Attorney Bob Metz. The family did deed the property to the city, Metz said, but it appears they didn't possess a title to the land.

"I can't imagine it was done intentionally. It must have been some kind of a mixup," Metz said.

That means the state may still own the land.

Through a formal application process, the city is asking the state to relinquish rights to the property. If approved, "the state would disclaim any right of title to that property," Metz explained.

The answer to the mystery may be tied to a now-defunct state law called the Butler Act of 1921. The law gave ownership of formerly submerged lands to owners of adjacent property who made improvements on the land.

In other words, a waterfront property owner who dredged and filled submerged land beyond the water line would become the owner of that additional land.

The law, enacted to encourage improvements to the waterfront that would increase commerce, was repealed in 1951.

The city owns Gulf Road, which abuts Sunset Beach. And because the city dredged and filled Sunset Beach (then known as the Pleasure Pier) before 1951, it's possible the property would fall under the Butler Act provision, said Rod Maddox, title section supervisor of the Division of State Lands.

Officials with the state agency that awarded the grant for the pavilion, the Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program, said they are aware of the issue and have granted an indefinite extension to the city to rectify the problem, said Diane Langston, the program's community assistance consultant.

The city sent the application for disclaimer to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Division of State Lands in early March. The state review could take anywhere from two months to a year, Maddox said.

That would still give the city plenty of time to build the new pavilion, which must be completed by April 30, 2011, according to the grant requirements.

Rita Farlow can be reached at farlow@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4157.