public any more rights than it already has by making lakefront owners sign leases. Do you really think a person is going to trespass through your private property to get to the state held strip of land next to the water to picnic and launch a boat? I hardly think so. They need to think of other ways to provide public access. How about purchasing a few homes from lakefront owners who are willing to sell and making public access out that land?

What if a state employee came to your door and asked you to sign a lease that required you to pay THEM to use your own deeded shoreline property?

Well that is exactly what is happening on Lake Erie in Ohio. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (Coastal Management Program) is asking lakefront owners on Lake Erie to sign a 50 year lease that requires payment to the Ohio DNR for use of the shoreline that in most cases, is deeded to the owners on their property titles. This should be a wake up call for all my fellow lakefront owners in other states. The Michigan Supreme Court has already proclaimed that the public has the right to walk on lakefront owner's private beaches because they are held in the "public trust". Will your state follow?

Each respective state holds in trust the land below the water on all navigable lakes. They hold it in trust for the rights of the public pursuant to the Public Trust Doctrine. The public's rights are usually paramount to private rights when it comes to littoral and riparian rights, but when it comes to using that theory to interfere with the land of lakefront owners with deeded titles, something must be done about it.

Besides asking Lake Erie lakefront owners for money to use the shoreline they already have deeds to use, the Ohio DNR is also asking them to essentially sign away certain property rights by signing a submerged land lease agreement for 50 years. Wait, there is more, they are also requiring the owners to continue to pay the taxes on that lakeshore. They should not be "double taxed" this way.

What is the motivation for all of this you ask? The Ohio DNR Coastal Management Program is doing it under the guise of public interest. I find it hard to believe that they can confidently say they are giving the public any more rights than it already has by making lakefront owners sign leases. Do you really think a person is going to trespass through your private property to get to the state held strip of land next to the water to picnic and launch a boat? I hardly think so. They need to think of other ways to provide public access. How about purchasing a few homes from lakefront owners who are willing to sell and making public access out that land?

<s on their property titles. This should be a wake up call for all my fellow lakefront owners in other states. The Michigan Supreme Court has already proclaimed that the public has the right to walk on lakefront owner's private beaches because they are held in the "public trust". Will your state follow?

Each respective state holds in trust the land below the water on all navigable lakes. They hold it in trust for the rights of the public pursuant to the Public Trust Doctrine. The public's rights are usually paramount to private rights when it comes to littoral and riparian rights, but when it comes to using that theory to interfere with the land of lakefront owners with deeded titles, something must be done about it.

Besides asking Lake Erie lakefront owners for money to use the shoreline they already have deeds to use, the Ohio DNR is also asking them to essentially sign away certain property rights by signing a submerged land lease agreement for 50 years. Wait, there is more, they are also requiring the owners to continue to pay the taxes on that lakeshore. They should not be "double taxed" this way.

What is the motivation for all of this you ask? The Ohio DNR Coastal Management Program is doing it under the guise of public interest. I find it hard to believe that they can confidently say they are giving the public any more rights than it already has by making lakefront owners sign leases. Do you really think a person is going to trespass through your private property to get to the state held strip of land next to the water to picnic and launch a boat? I hardly think so. They need to think of other ways to provide public access. How about purchasing a few homes from lakefront owners who are willing to sell and making public access out that land?

rsuant to the Public Trust Doctrine. The public's rights are usually paramount to private rights when it comes to littoral and riparian rights, but when it comes to using that theory to interfere with the land of lakefront owners with deeded titles, something must be done about it.

Besides asking Lake Erie lakefront owners for money to use the shoreline they already have deeds to use, the Ohio DNR is also asking them to essentially sign away certain property rights by signing a submerged land lease agreement for 50 years. Wait, there is more, they are also requiring the owners to continue to pay the taxes on that lakeshore. They should not be "double taxed" this way.

What is the motivation for all of this you ask? The Ohio DNR Coastal Management Program is doing it under the guise of public interest. I find it hard to believe that they can confidently say they are giving the public any more rights than it already has by making lakefront owners sign leases. Do you really think a person is going to trespass through your private property to get to the state held strip of land next to the water to picnic and launch a boat? I hardly think so. They need to think of other ways to provide public access. How about purchasing a few homes from lakefront owners who are willing to sell and making public access out that land?

certain property rights by signing a submerged land lease agreement for 50 years. Wait, there is more, they are also requiring the owners to continue to pay the taxes on that lakeshore. They should not be "double taxed" this way.

What is the motivation for all of this you ask? The Ohio DNR Coastal Management Program is doing it under the guise of public interest. I find it hard to believe that they can confidently say they are giving the public any more rights than it already has by making lakefront owners sign leases. Do you really think a person is going to trespass through your private property to get to the state held strip of land next to the water to picnic and launch a boat? I hardly think so. They need to think of other ways to provide public access. How about purchasing a few homes from lakefront owners who are willing to sell and making public access out that land?

public any more rights than it already has by making lakefront owners sign leases. Do you really think a person is going to trespass through your private property to get to the state held strip of land next to the water to picnic and launch a boat? I hardly think so. They need to think of other ways to provide public access. How about purchasing a few homes from lakefront owners who are willing to sell and making public access out that land?

I think the Ohio DNR is surely neglecting private lakeshore owners and is going too far in the interest of the public. There needs to be state legislation in place that protects the rights of lakeshore property owners, especially when it comes to land grabs. The Ohio Lakefront Group has filed a class action suit in Lake County, Ohio. The matter is still ongoing.