WHAT RIGHTS DO PROPERTY OWNERS HAVE WHOSE LAND ADJOINS THE SHORE OF THE GREAT LAKES?
Michigan’s Attorney General, Frank J. Kelley answered this question in his Opinion No. 5327 dated July 6, 1978. Riparian rights include: 1. The use of the water for general purposes, as bathing, domestic use, etc. 2. To wharf out to navigability. 3. Access to navigable waters. 4. The right to accretions. The Attorney General states the following: In summary: 1. A riparian at all times owns the upland to the ordinary high water mark, and may exercise control thereto, by virtue of rights stemming from the Federal patent. 2. The ordinary high water mark is set for all the Great Lakes by 1955 PA 247, supra, and when the water recedes below the ordinary high water mark, the riparian owner has control over the exposed area, but may not place any permanent structures or do any dredging or filling on this land without a permit from the Department of Environmental Quality. 3. The public may not use the beach whether it extends to the ordinary high water mark or to the low water mark. The public
