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[Southsider2k12]

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-an...93e55a4f06.html

INDIANAPOLIS — A yearslong dispute over private property rights and public access to Lake Michigan is headed to the Indiana Supreme Court, whose decision could affect every visitor and Region resident who goes to the beach in Northwest Indiana.

The Hoosier justices will decide in coming weeks whether to grant transfer, and thereby vacate, a landmark Indiana Court of Appeals decision that all parties to the case of Gunderson v. State believe was decided incorrectly.

At issue are how far inland, beyond the actual water of Lake Michigan, does the state's ownership go; how close to the water an individual can own property; and who possesses the land in between that's sometimes covered by water?

The Court of Appeals, in a 3-0 ruling, affirmed in December that the state's interest extends to the "ordinary high water mark," which it defined as the line on the shore where the presence and action of water is continuous enough to distinguish it from land through erosion, vegetation changes or other characteristics.