# Judge rules Torch Lake frontage is public



## Hamilton Reef (Jan 20, 2000)

Judge rules Torch Lake frontage is public

http://www.record-eagle.com/2004/jul/07torch.htm
By KEITH MATHENY, Record-Eagle staff writer, July 7, 2004

BELLAIRE - The Lone Tree Point frontage on Torch Lake belongs to the public and not neighboring landowners, an Antrim County judge ruled in a court battle that's spanned more than seven years.
The property includes 66 feet of frontage on the lake at the end of Lone Tree Point Road west of East Torch Lake Drive in Helena Township.
It was once the site of the popular Lone Tree Point restaurant and hotel at the turn of the 20th century, but the area now contains summer cottages.
Locals have used the road-ending as a Torch Lake access point for years, said township attorney Kevin Elsenheimer.
Neighbors on both sides of the site filed suit in 1997, seeking to have the property declared private. The case went to the state Court of Appeals twice, and the state Supreme Court once.
Judge Thomas Power heard the case in a 10-day trial nearly two years ago, after it was sent back to Antrim circuit court from the higher courts. But only last week did Power issue his ruling that the access is public property. 
A former owner of the property had tried to have a road created there in 1897, Power noted in his ruling. The road had been dedicated for public use by former owners, and the county road commission had accepted the dedication, the judge noted.
Helena supervisor John Ferguson called the decision "a huge victory for Helena Township and for the right of the public to access Torch Lake."
Ken Brooks, an attorney for the neighbors who sued seeking the property, did not return a telephone message seeking comment.


----------

