MAGICIAN LAKE HOMEOWNERS ASSN INC V KELLER TWP BD OF TRUSTEES
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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
MAGICIAN LAKE HOMEOWNERS
ASSOCIATION, INC.,
UNPUBLISHED
July 31, 2008
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v
KEELER TOWNSHIP BOARD OF TRUSTEES,
No. 278469
Van Buren Circuit Court
LC No. 06-550506-CH
Defendant-Appellee.
Before: Saad, C.J., and Fort Hood and Borrello, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Plaintiff appeals as of right from a circuit court order granting summary disposition for
defendant. We affirm. This appeal is being decided without oral argument pursuant to MCR
7.214(E).
Magician Lake is located in Keeler Township. The Magician Lake Woods subdivision
was established in 1945. Plaintiff is an association of homeowners who own back lots in the
subdivision. The subdivision includes a platted park and walks that terminate in small beaches at
the water’s edge. The plat dedication states that “the streets, walks, courts, beaches and park in
said plat are hereby dedicated to the use of the public. All lots in blocks 1 to 6, inclusive, and the
land designated as park and beaches runs to the water’s edge.” A local ordinance requires
township approval to maintain a dock but prohibits overnight (12:00 a.m. to sunrise) docking of
boats. Keeler Township Ordinance No. 06-06-2006-01, §§ 3.1(3), 4.1, 4.2. Plaintiff contends
that the dedication confers a right to dock boats overnight and thus the ordinance violates the
constitutional protections against the taking of property without due process and just
compensation. The trial court disagreed and entered judgment for defendant.
The trial court’s ruling on a motion for summary disposition is reviewed de novo. Kefgen
v Davidson, 241 Mich App 611, 616; 617 NW2d 351 (2000). Questions of law are also reviewed
de novo on appeal. Minority Earth Movers, Inc v Walter Toebe Constr Co, 251 Mich App 87,
91; 649 NW2d 397 (2002).
It is well established that a riparian owner enjoys “certain exclusive rights” which include
“the right to erect and maintain docks along the owner’s shore, and the right to anchor boats
permanently off the owner’s shore.” Thies v Howland, 424 Mich 282, 288; 380 NW2d 463
(1985) (citations omitted). A nonriparian owner, on the other hand, has “a right to use the
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surface of the water in a reasonable manner for such activities as boating, fishing and
swimming.” Id. “An incident of the public’s right of navigation is the right to anchor boats
temporarily.” Id.; Jacobs v Lyon Twp (After Remand), 199 Mich App 667, 671-672; 502 NW2d
382 (1993). However, “rights normally afforded exclusively to riparian landowners may be
conferred by easement.” Little v Kin, 249 Mich App 502, 511; 644 NW2d 375 (2002), aff’d 468
Mich 699 (2003). A plat dedication generally operates as an easement rather than a conveyance
of ownership in fee. Little v Hirschman, 469 Mich 553, 559; 677 NW2d 319 (2004); Thies,
supra at 293.
“Where the language of a legal instrument is plain and unambiguous, it is to be enforced
as written and no further inquiry is permitted. If the text of the easement is ambiguous, extrinsic
evidence may be considered by the trial court in order to determine the scope of the easement.”
Little v Kin, 468 Mich 699, 700; 664 NW2d 749 (2003). The plat dedication states in part that
“the streets, walks, courts, beaches and park in said plat are hereby dedicated to the use of the
public. All lots in blocks 1 to 6, inclusive, and the land designated as park and beaches runs to
the water’s edge.” We agree that this language is ambiguous because it dedicates the property
“to the use of the public” without specifying what that use might entail. Therefore, extrinsic
evidence may be considered to discover its scope.
The only evidence presented by plaintiff was the affidavit from a local owner who stated
that when his father and grandfather purchased back lots, one of the original platters, C. W.
Coats, informed them “that when they purchased their lots they could put a dock in the water and
keep boats there.” Because Coats’s statement is offered for the truth of the matter asserted, it is
inadmissible hearsay, MRE 801(c); MRE 802, and plaintiff has not identified an exception to or
exclusion from the hearsay rule under which it would be admissible. The law is clear that only
evidence admissible at trial may be considered in determining whether a genuine issue of fact
exists. Veenstra v Washtenaw Country Club, 466 Mich 155, 163; 645 NW2d 643 (2002). The
owner also stated that at various times after his relations purchased their lots, they built docks
and kept their boats moored there. However, activities on the lake at some unspecified time after
the plat dedication is not sufficient to establish “that the disputed activities are properly within
the scope of the plat dedication . . . .” Jacobs, supra at 672. Because plaintiff failed to present
sufficient evidence to establish a question of fact that the scope of the easement intended
something more than lake access, the grant of land “to the use of the public” did not confer
riparian rights and thus did not include anything more than the right to temporarily moor boats.
Higgins Lake Prop Owners Ass’n v Gerrish Twp, 255 Mich App 83, 101-104; 662 NW2d 387
(2003). Further, the language that the land “runs to the water’s edge” does not change the grant
to one including riparian rights. Dyball v Lennox, 260 Mich App 698, 708; 680 NW2d 522
(2003).
Although the dedication at issue here expressly included beaches and a park as well as
streets and walks, we do not find that inclusion significant on the issue of riparian rights. A park
is “a public area of land, usu. in a natural state, having facilities for recreation.” Random House
Webster’s College Dictionary (1997). A beach is “an expanse of sand or pebbles along a shore.”
Id. The grant to use a park and a beach does not expressly or impliedly refer to riparian rights of
any sort but simply authorizes the uses to which such lands for are normally put, i.e., recreational
activities such as swimming, sunbathing, fishing, and picnicking. Accordingly, we conclude that
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plaintiff’s members’ right of access to the lake did not include the riparian right to dock boats
overnight.
Affirmed.
/s/ Henry William Saad
/s/ Karen M. Fort Hood
/s/ Stephen L. Borrello
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