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County trying to restrict boat mooring and docks


JasonK

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Well, a couple of families, a lake front owner and a lake access owner are fueding. And now the Jackson County road commision is voting on a policy that would keep public docks from being put in, and would prevent boats from mooring overnight. The street I live on, and many others, end about 20 feet from, or into, the lake. Everyone on the street gets a spot on the dock and can keep their boats there all summer. Been that way forever. It's a public lake.

Has anybody had to fight something like this?

Any suggestions that would help keep the County from adopting the policy?

The ruling would effect all the lakes in the county.

The policy statement refers to: roads terminating at navigable waters.

I don't know why they would have jurisdiction over overnight mooring. The policy sentence reads: A person shall not moor a vessel overnight on bottomland directly offshore from the public access.

There is more to the 1/2 page policy, but these are the 2 issues being debated.

We all agree some policy needs to be adopted, just not this exact one.

Thanks to all in advance.

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Fight it. You got to get public invlolved. The lakes are public property. People that own property abutting the lake, don't own the lake. If they get that law passed, it won't get changed.

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In my county the same issue has come up because if a road dead end at the lake people were making it a access site. Docks and boat lifts were appearing. Well to make a long story short The wright to use the property as a access site has been denied. Docks lifts and any structures must be removed. Liability questions, ownership of the property. Oh ya lets not forget the government taxes property with lake access different than just back lot property.

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MalibuNation
In my county the same issue has come up because if a road dead end at the lake people were making it a access site. Docks and boat lifts were appearing. Well to make a long story short The wright to use the property as a access site has been denied. Docks lifts and any structures must be removed. Liability questions, ownership of the property. Oh ya lets not forget the government taxes property with lake access different than just back lot property.

Agree on what SB says. Also it's likely to get uglier, neighbor vs neighbor. They are fighting the same situation on a road that dead ends into Lake MI in Allegan Co near me.

I'd go to google and do a search on:

riparian rights michigan

or something similar.

Good luck.

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In my county the same issue has come up because if a road dead end at the lake people were making it a access site. Docks and boat lifts were appearing. Well to make a long story short The wright to use the property as a access site has been denied. Docks lifts and any structures must be removed. Liability questions, ownership of the property. Oh ya lets not forget the government taxes property with lake access different than just back lot property.

Agree on what SB says. Also it's likely to get uglier, neighbor vs neighbor. They are fighting the same situation on a road that dead ends into Lake MI in Allegan Co near me.

I'd go to google and do a search on:

riparian rights michigan

or something similar.

Good luck.

Don't pussyfoot around on the neighbor issue. Long standing sentiments negative between neighnbors are far worse then the shorter term battles including those involving attorneys. Good legal representation is paramount in these situations as some rather self serving issues are at the root of this problem. Albeit the fact that your taxes pay for the lake and such is true, it gets a little diluted when the efforts of negotiating a compromise between parties comes into play. After serving on mulitple boards and other political office at the council level, I have seen that a strong offense right out othe box is the best strategy for achieveing the desired results. Even attempts to condemn the offending neighbors property abutting the lake as necessary for use as public lands is not without reserve in this matter. Good Luck! But remember to fight strong in the beginning to avoid losing momentum in the public government sector.

Edited by multiplemalibufamily
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I'd be curious to see why they are trying to do this. This doesn't seem like something anyone would particularly benefit from. Find out their reasoning, and you can start making your counter argument.

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Deeded access is understood to all land owners at the time of purchase and must be honored unless someone goes through legal proses to have it changed. It is very clear as too the property owned on the deed. I have seen deeds that clearly state ownership beyond the water front and it is clearly documented on the deed. I can give a good reason for some concern. I am involved now with the township passing a tax easement to pay for weed control on our lake. We intend to tax lake front owners one rate and back lot owners with deeded access 1/2 of the lake Freont owners. We will have a very hard time getting people to accept being taxed if some other person who does not own land and has the same access and does not pay a fair share. I also looked at a chunk of property in northern Mich. It was land locked and had no deeded access. It did have a access road through privet property and at the time it was understood it was OK to use. After talking to a lawyer I was advised to not purchase the property if a deeded access could not be agreed upon. If the present owner sold the property the next owner could stop access if not deeded.

Can you Imagen how out of control things could get if anyone could just drop a dock or lift because someone does not know who Owens the property it may be off of?

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