Lake residents take dock issue to court

CADILLAC - As the unofficial launch of summer begins this weekend, the North Boulevard dock controversy sailed into court.

Early Friday, Wexford County Circuit Court Judge Charles Corwin heard motions from attorney Stephen King, who represents all the landowners in the Kenwood Park Plat, and the city of Cadillac.

King sought an injunction, which would allow docking to take place until the final determination of ownership is made. Corwin chose to postpone a decision and set a June 8 hearing, giving him more time to absorb the breadth of the issue, said David McCurdy, Cadillac city attorney.

King said that the city is premature in enforcing the docking prohibition without a legal opinion.

If the injunction is passed, people would be allowed to install docks in the plat, which runs from Seneca Place west to Iroquois Place, until a final ruling is made.

King said he believes the city's claim of ownership and its subsequent enforcement of that ownership is premature.

"We believe, based on research, that the city does not own it as city park," King said.

King said until a legal ruling is made in court, the opinions of McCurdy and Miller-Canfield, who gave a second opinion as requested by the city, are just opinions.

"At this point, there is no determination by a court that the city owns the land," he said.

King's argument is based on the plat dedication of 1916 where the narrow strip of land between North Boulevard and the lakeshore was "dedicated for parking purposes." King refers to the land as the Triangular Parcel.

In a brief King submitted to the Wexford County Circuit Court, he states: "The City of Cadillac has concluded that the Triangular Parcel is a park based upon the fact that because the Plat contains language dedicating the 'parks' to the public and there are no areas designated on the Plat as park, the Triangular Parcel must be the 'parks' referenced."

King believes this dedication does not mean the land is public park.

Also in the plat dedication it reads that the streets, alleys, parks and lakefront are dedicated to the use of the public.

It reads in the document: "The Triangular Parcel was not included in the paragraph dedicating designated areas to the public. In fact, the Plat is silent as to whom the Triangular Parcel was dedicated."

King also states that the term parking does not signify the property as being a public park.

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