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STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS


BRIAN VANFAROWE and RAJINI VANFAROWE, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v CASCADE CHARTER TOWNSHIP and GOODWOOD PLAT OWNERS, INC., Defendants-Appellees.

UNPUBLISHED November 8, 2007

No. 264189 Kent Circuit Court LC No. 05-004313-AV

Before: Fort Hood, P.J., and Smolenski and Murray, JJ. PER CURIAM. Plaintiffs appeal by leave granted from the trial court's order affirming the grant of a special use permit issued by defendant township for the construction of a boat launch. We reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion. Plaintiffs live adjacent to "Lot 25" of the Goodwood Plat in Cascade Township, on which the Goodwood Plat Owners, Inc. (GPO) planned to build a boat launch for the use of the owners in the plat. The Goodwood Plat was developed by Grover and Priscilla Good in 1950 when they subdivided their property along the Thornapple River into 52 lots: 25 along the river and the remainder across the street from the river. When the Goods established the plat, they included a dedication that states in part that "the street as shown on said plat is hereby dedicated to the use of the public and `Lot 25' is dedicated to the use of the property owners." It is undisputed that the plat now consists of 43 lots, 22 lots along the river and 21 across the street. Sometime after the plat was established, the Goods interest in Lot 25 was conveyed by deed to "Goodwood Plat Owners, Inc." In 1991, the owners of lots in Goodwood Plat discovered that GPO had lapsed as a corporation because it had failed to file annual reports. The owners then formed the current GPO, incorporated in February, 1992, and filed suit to confirm ownership of Lot 25 in the new GPO. GPO claims that the suit was successful, but no judgment was recorded. The parties agree that Priscilla Good executed a quitclaim deed to the current GPO on January 9, 1996. That deed granted lot 25 to GPO "[s]ubject to flowage rights appearing on record, and also subject to building and use restrictions of the Cascade Township Zoning -1-


Ordinance. Subject also to any rights of common usage which may be vested in owners of other lots in Goodwood Plat." Lot 25 is only 75 feet wide. However, the township's keyhole ordinance requires all waterfront property to have "at least 100 feet of lake, river or stream frontage as measured along the normal high water mark of the lake, river or stream for each single-family home, dwelling unit . . . utilizing or accessing the lake, river or stream frontage." See

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Michigan Law