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Long Beach Community Alliance

Op Ed Calls SB581 ‘A Ticking Time Bomb’ (as reported in the NWI Times March 1, 2019)

[https://www.nwitimes.com/opinion/columnists/guest-commentary/guest-commentary-preserve-the-precedent-for-beach-access/article_57fb467e-9a49-51cf-a48d-c9c15d6564a2.html]

Senate Bill 581 is now quietly working its way through the Indiana General Assembly. But this bill is the legislative equivalent of a ticking time bomb. Senate Bill 581, if passed into law, threatens to curtail the historic right of all Indiana citizens to access and use Indiana’s Lake Michigan shore. In addition, it threatens to override the environmental protections established by local communities.

This legislation would harm not only those who live near and enjoy recreation on the lakeshore, but it also would hurt the thousands of people who visit the lakeshore each year, the local Hoosiers whose livelihoods depend on those visitors, and the municipal governments that have worked to protect the shoreland environment.

Last year, the Indiana Supreme Court, in Gunderson v. State, unanimously delivered its strongest affirmation of the public’s right to access and use the Lake Michigan shore. The court held that the shore of Lake Michigan has been public land since Indiana’s statehood and that Indiana holds that shoreland “in trust” for the people of the state. The court ruled that the boundary separating public shoreland from private property is the natural ordinary high water mark.

The Gunderson ruling also reaffirmed that “Indiana in its sovereign capacity is without power to convey or curtail the right of its people” in the state’s public trust lands. That means that no one — not the governor, nor an agency, nor the Indiana Legislature — can issue an order, make a rule or pass legislation that conveys or curtails the rights of Indiana citizens in the public trust shores of Lake Michigan.

But convey and curtail the public’s rights to the shore is precisely what Senate Bill 581 threatens to do. The bill contains several provisions that together would undermine and act as an end run around the court's Gunderson decision. SB 581 threatens to give away state-owned shoreland to a small number of private beachfront landowners along the lake. It also threatens to allow private construction of walls and other barriers that prevent people from walking on shoreland that the law says rightfully belongs to all Hoosiers. As if this were not enough, SB 581 also strips local governments of the authority to protect their own municipal parks and dune property and to apply zoning laws within their jurisdiction.

The Legislature has an alternative, however — Sen. Karen Tallian’s SB 553 — which respects the boundary of public trust rights and local community efforts to protect the shore, elaborates protected recreational activities and reaffirms the state’s duty to protect the public’s rights and interests on Indiana’s Lake Michigan shore.

Our beautiful lakefront is part of our state heritage. Future generations — not just a select few — deserve the opportunity to share in that heritage.

Christian Freitag is director of the Conservation Law Center in Bloomington, Indiana. Jeffrey Hyman is the center's senior attorney. The opinions are the writer's.

REMINDER: EMAIL THE FOLLOWING KEY OFFICIALS WITH YOUR CONCERNS REGARDING SB 581 TODAY!!!

We need hundreds of voices to be heard Opposing SB 581 and Supporting SB 553 via emails to the Governor, DNR and key legislators in the Indiana House of Representatives.

► Starting This Week – MARCH 4-8 – Please email the following key people with your own message as to why you OPPOSE SB 581 AND SUPPORT SB 553:

Rep Sean Eberhart - Chair, Natural Resources Committee

Phone: (317) 232-9619 Email: [email protected] Website: [http://www.in.gov/h57]

Rep. Jeff Ellington - Vice Chair, Natural Resources Committee

Phone: (317) 232-9850 Email: [email protected] Website: [http://www.in.gov/h62]

Rep. Pat Boy - 9th District (Represents Long Beach and neighboring communities)

Phone: (219) 229-1810 (Local Office); (800) 382-9842 Email: [email protected] Website: [http://www.in.gov/h9]

Mr. Cameron Clark - Director, Indiana Department of Natural Resources

Phone: (317) 232-4567 Email: [email protected]

Governor Eric Holcomb - Governor, State of Indiana

Phone: (317) 232-4567 Website: [https://www.facebook.com/GovHolcomb/]

Example: “My family and I have enjoyed swimming and picnicking on the Lake Michigan shore for generations. I am very concerned that SB 581 now pending in the Indiana House would take away my rights and give them to an elite few. SB 581 would also take away local government zoning authority to protect the shore and dunes from reckless private development and beach eroding activities. This is just wrong-headed. Please VOTE NO ON SB 581, and instead VOTE YES ON SB 553 which would maintain Indiana residents’ traditional right to use and enjoy our precious Lake Michigan shore and protect it from privatization.”

PLEASE CONTINUE YOUR SUPPORT

We appreciate your continued support.

Please make checks payable to the Long Beach Community Alliance which can be sent to:

LBCA

P.O. Box 167

Michigan City, IN 46361

or donations can be processed online via our website at [http://www.lbcall.org]

Again, thank you for your continued support.

PLEASE FORWARD TO A FRIEND http://longbeachcommunityalliance.forwardtomyfriend.com/j-uhjjyuklh-F98EE438-xddyuld-l-o

Long Beach Community Alliance

The Long Beach Community Alliance is a not-for-profit community organization supported by hundreds of residents, former residents and friends of the Town of Long Beach, Indiana, a historic beachside community on the shore of Lake Michigan. One of the missions of the LBCA is to protect the rights of all Long Beach residents and members of the public to their historic use and enjoyment of Indiana’s Lake Michigan shore.

LBCA is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization and all donations are tax deductible as allowable by law.

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