2000 BAUM FAMILY TRUST, BAUM FAMILY TRUST, JOSEPH BEAUDOIN, SANDRA BEAUDOIN, ADELE MEGDALL REVOCABLE TRUST, PAUL NOWAK & JOAN NOWAK TRUST, MARILYN ORMSBEE, MARK SCHWARTZ, WENDY SCHWARTZ, and THOMAS THOMASON, Plaintiffs/Counterdefendants-Appellants, v WILLIAM BABEL, JUDY BABEL, JAMES CAHILL, GLORIA CAHILL, DANIEL ENGSTROM, PENNY ENGSTROM, ARTHUR A RANGER TRUST, PATRICIA L RANGER TRUST, and CHARLEVOIX COUNTY ROAD COMMISSION, Defendants/Counterplaintiffs-Appellees, and AL GOOCH, ELIZABETH GOOCH, JESSE HALSTEAD, and LINDA HALSTEAD, Intervening Defendants/Counterplaintiffs-Appellees, and CHARLEVOIX TOWNSHIP, Defendant-Appellee., 488 Mich. 136

Summary

The issue was who possessed riparian rights to the portion of the lake. The owners were owners of property fronting the lake but separated from the water by a public road running parallel to the water. The CCRC had accepted a statutory dedication of the road and maintained it as such. The road at issue was dedicated under the 1887 plat act, 1887 PA 309. The supreme court found that the particular property interest created by the statute, a "base fee," conveyed to the receiving governmental entity only nominal title. A base fee in a public road running parallel to the water had never been thought to divest front-lot property owners of their riparian rights, much less convey riparian rights to the county. In the history of Michigan property law, no Michigan decision had ever suggested these propositions, and every Michigan decision that had addressed the exact issue had concluded that riparian rights rested with the front-lot owners. On the authority of longstanding caselaw, and mindful ...