Court sides with city on floating homes dispute

By Scott Sullivan
Editor
The Michigan Court of Appeals June 12 upheld the City of Saugatuck’s right to regulate — and possibly remove — four floating homes placed three years ago next to the west Chain Ferry landing.
In an 18-page opinion issued yesterday, judges Kristina Robinson Garrett, Michelle M. Rick and Philip P. Mariani voted 3-0 to reject multiple challenges by Dune Ridge SA, LP to the city’s Floating Home Ordinance.
The challenge stems from a July 18, 2019 property transfer by the city to Dune Ridge, whose principal Paulus Heule bought the 130-acre Presbyterian Camps for $10 million from the Presbytery of Chicago in 2014.
Heule, head of the Grand Rapids-based international property management and investment firm Eenhoorn, LLC, has since has developed the 21 high-end home Dune Grass development fronting Lake Michigan just south of Oval Beach.
The parcel’s east edge fronts on the Kalamazoo River, north of the chain ferry where he docked the floating homes in 2022 illegally, claimed the city.
The vessels have sat unoccupied since then, while suits and countersuits between the two ensued.
The appellate court last week affirmed an Allegan County Circuit Court Roberts Kengis’s July 3, 2023 ruling that the agreement between the city and Dune Ridge did not prohibit the city from regulating floating homes.
The court also held that the city was immune from claims that it acted negligently or made misrepresentations in connection with the agreement.
Although a few issues remain to be resolved in the case, including the legality of a privacy wall built by Dune Ridge between its property and the chain ferry dock, the decision paves the way for removing the floating homes from their current location.
Dune Ridge may also appeal the appellate court’s ruling to that body and/or ask the state Supreme Court to weigh its complaints against the city.
“Those moves could buy them time and keep us in court, city attorney John Brennan of Fahey Schulz Burzych Rhodes PLC said.
“This litigation has beec a difficult journey for the city,” said mayor Holly Anderson.
“But we are pleased that the decision reflected our resolve to stand by our ordinance and city’s right and obligation to assure that shoreline uses are safe for everyone,” she said.