Reads Landing Campers Ass'n v. Township of Pepin

533 N.W.2d 45, 1995 WL 332274
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedAugust 31, 1995
DocketC2-94-2133
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 533 N.W.2d 45 (Reads Landing Campers Ass'n v. Township of Pepin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reads Landing Campers Ass'n v. Township of Pepin, 533 N.W.2d 45, 1995 WL 332274 (Mich. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinions

OPINION

PETERSON, Judge.

Appellant Reads Landing Camper’s Association, Inc. began this action against respondent Township of Pepin, seeking a declaratory judgment that Pepin had abandoned sections of two streets in the unincorporated village of Reads Landing. Appellant Soo Line Railroad Company and respondent State of Minnesota were later added as parties. Respondents Richard McCaleb, et ah, Reads Landing residents, intervened, seeking a declaratory judgment that the State of Minnesota owned land adjacent to the Mississippi River that had been created by dredging. On cross motions for summary judgment, the district court determined that Soo Line held title to the land adjacent to the river that had been created by dredging and that Pepin had not abandoned the street sections. This appeal is from the resulting judgment. We affirm.

FACTS

The plat of Reed’s Addition to Pepin, located in Read’s Landing, was dedicated in 1870. The plat included Main and Reed Streets, which ran perpendicular to the river bank and ended at the river.

Appellant Soo Line Railroad Company, through its predecessors in title, acquired land in Reed’s Addition. The land was bordered by the railroad tracks on the south and the river on the north. Main and Reed Streets crossed Soo Line’s land. Since at least 1966, Soo Line has leased its land to various lessees. The property has been used for a campground, boat harbor, bait shop and refreshment stand. In 1991, appellant Reads Landing Camper’s Association, Inc. (RLCA) obtained possession of the leasehold by an assignment and acceptance of an existing lease.

From 1929 through 1947, the United States Army Corps of Engineers dredged soil from the river bottom and deposited it along the shoreline. This created a new area of land between the original boundary of Soo [47]*47Line’s land and the river. The parties dispute whether Soo Line or the state owns this land.

Respondents state that the public has used the new land as a beach and recreation area. Frank Biever, a Reads Landing resident, stated that during the 1950’s, with permission from the Army Corps of Engineers, Reads Landing residents constructed a small craft harbor at the beach area created by the dredging. Respondents submitted evidence that Soo Line did not begin paying property taxes on the new area until 1988. Appellants submitted evidence that over the years, governmental organizations have issued permits and licenses to the railroad’s lessees, which were using the disputed area for business purposes, and conducted inspections of their operations.

Appellants also argue that Pepin abandoned the sections of Main and Reed Streets that run from the railroad tracks to the river. Pepin admitted that a building was located on the section of Main Street at issue and that the building was on the Wabasha County tax rolls. Pepin’s answers to interrogatories indicate that it did not maintain, plow, or repair the disputed areas of Main and Reed Streets. Pepin did request that RLCA remove a eable, picnic tables and trailers from Main and Reed Streets. But appellants allege that the trailers remain on the premises pursuant to licenses issued by the Wabasha County Public Health Department.

ISSUES

I. Did the district court properly determine that Soo Line, as riparian landowner, owns the area of land created by dredging?

II. Did the district court properly determine that Pepin had not abandoned the sections of Main Street and Reed Street crossing the area created by dredging?

III. Did the district court properly award intervenors costs and disbursements?

ANALYSIS

On appeal from a summary judgment, this court must review the record to determine whether any genuine issues of material fact exist and whether the district court properly applied the law. Offerdahl v. University of Minn. Hosps. & Clinics, 426 N.W.2d 425, 427 (Minn.1988). We must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Id.

I.

Respondents argue that pursuant to the Submerged Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. §§ 1301-1356 (1988 & Supp. Ill 1991), the state has title to the land created by the Corps of Engineers’ dredging. But the

effect of the Act was merely to confirm the States’ title to the beds of navigable waters within their boundaries as against any claim of the United States Government.

Oregon ex rel. State Land Bd. v. Corvallis Sand & Gravel Co., 429 U.S. 363, 371 n. 4. 97 S.Ct. 582, 587 n. 4, 50 L.Ed.2d 550 (1977). Because the dispute in this case is between the state and a private party, state law applies. See id. at 371-82, 97 S.Ct. at 587-93 (absent overriding federal principle, state law governs disputes about land beneath and bordering navigable waterways); see also California ex rel. State Lands Comm’n v. United States, 457 U.S. 273, 281-83, 102 S.Ct. 2432, 2437-38, 73 L.Ed.2d 1 (1982) (explaining Corvallis).

In State v. Slotness, 289 Minn. 485, 486, 489-90, 185 N.W.2d 530, 532, 534 (1971), the supreme court held that a riparian landowner owned land he created by filling a submerged lakebed to the point of navigability. The court stated:

The riparian owner’s title extends to the low-water mark. The state owns the bed of navigable waters below the low-water mark in trust for the people for public uses, which include commercial navigation, the drawing of water for various private and public purposes, recreational activity, and similar water-connected uses.
The riparian owner, in addition to his rights to the use of navigable waters as a member of the public, has other private rights as an incident to his ownership of the shoreland. His main right — on which other rights depend and which often constitutes the principal value of property so situated — is an exclusive right of access to [48]*48the water in front of his land. This right of access is the foundation for the rule that the riparian owner has a right to accretions and relictions in front of his land.

Id. at 486-87, 185 N.W.2d at 532 (citations omitted).

We recognize that this ease is distinguishable from Slotness because the land was created by dredging and filling done by a third party and was not necessary for the landowner to reach the point of navigability. These factual distinctions, however, provide no basis for concluding that the land created in this case is not owned by the riparian owner. We, therefore, conclude that Slotness controls this case.

As stated in Slotness, the main right of a riparian owner “is an exclusive right of access to the water in front of his land.” Id. at 487, 185 N.W.2d at 532 (emphasis added). A conclusion that land created by a third party is owned by anyone other than the riparian owner would take from the riparian owner the main right of riparian ownership.

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Reads Landing Campers Ass'n v. Township of Pepin
533 N.W.2d 45 (Court of Appeals of Minnesota, 1995)

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Bluebook (online)
533 N.W.2d 45, 1995 WL 332274, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reads-landing-campers-assn-v-township-of-pepin-minnctapp-1995.