![]() Permanent docks or piers (i.e., docks or piers that are left in the water year-round) require a special state permit. A limited number of municipalities also regulate swim rafts and boat hoists by ordinance. Some municipalities also require docks and shore stations to be located a certain distance away from the side lot lines at the waterfront. Those regulations can limit the length of a dock from shore, the width of a dock and the height of a dock, as well as ban permanent docks by requiring docks to be removed from the water during the off-season. Some local municipalities (a city, village or township) do have ordinance provisions which regulate docks. And, if the property owner does not do so, the DNR might move or remove the item itself and bill the property owner for the cost. If it is, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (“DNR”) can require the riparian landowner to move or even remove such an item. Pursuant to Michigan statute, a dock, boat hoist or swim raft cannot be a hazard to navigation. See Thompson v Enz, 379 Mich 667 154 NW2d 472 (1967) Three Lakes Assn v Kessler, 91 Mich App 371 285 NW2d 300 (1979) Pierce v Riley, 81 Mich App 39 264 NW2d 110 (1978) West Michigan Dock & Market Corp v Lakeland Investments, 210 Mich App 505 534 NW2d 212 (1995) and Square Lake Hills Condo Assn v Bloomfield Twp, 437 Mich 310 471 NW2d 321 (1991). However, such items cannot unduly interfere with navigability or the rights of other riparians to reasonably use their respective riparian properties. Is there a limit on the length of a dock or how far out into the lake a swim raft can be anchored? At the common law, there is no definitive limit from the shore per se. It can constitute a trespass for any of those items to encroach on your neighbor’s lake bottomlands unless you have your neighbor’s permission. ![]() Nevertheless, if you are a riparian land owner, you must make sure that your dock, boat hoist and swim raft are all located on and over your own bottomlands. This uncertainty in the law can lead to disputes regarding the boundaries of bottomlands. Those angles almost never match the angles of the side lot lines on dry land of the lot or parcel involved. Unfortunately, it is frequently difficult to determine the angle at which riparian boundary lines under the water (and along the bottomlands) radiate to the center of an inland lake. See Hall v Wantz, 336 Mich 112 57 NW2d 462 (1953) Gregory v LaFaive, 172 Mich App 354 431 NW2d 511 (1988) and West Michigan Dock & Market Corp v Landland Investment, 210 Mich App 505 534 NW2d 212 (1995). With most inland lakes in Michigan, the bottomlands of a riparian property extend under the water to the center of the lake. However, it is also true that a riparian must place such items on their own bottomlands. That is one of the benefits of riparian ownership. Under the Michigan common law, riparian property owners generally have the right to install a dock, as well as a boat hoist and swimming raft, on their bottomlands. Quite often, one can tell that a person is not from Michigan when they speak of their seasonal “pier” on an inland lake! In Michigan, the common lake access structure on inland lakes is generally referred to as a “dock”, while the permanent structures on the Great Lakes tend to be referred to as “piers”. Few riparians think about the legal and liability implications for such items, however. Numerous riparians also have a floating raft or the equivalent. On inland lakes in Michigan, virtually every property owner has a dock and frequently, a boat hoist as well.
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