Shorewood resident Paul Florsheim says he plans to appeal a municipal judge’s determination that he was guilty of trespassing when he walked on a beach in Shorewood late last summer.
In her ruling Wednesday, Shorewood Municipal Judge Margo Kirchner said, “I grant judgment for the Village of Shorewood and find Florsheim guilty on the citation for trespassing. I impose the forfeiture in the deposit amount printed on his citation: $313.”
Florsheim can appeal the decision within 20 days. He told WUWM that he plans to do so.
Florsheim was ticketed when he walked on a stretch of beachfront property just north of the public Atwater Beach. The owner of the Lake Drive property that abuts the lake at that point complained to police, who issued the ticket.
Village Attorney Anthony Bayer says Shorewood maintains that people owning homes along the lakeshore own everything down to the water’s edge.
Florsheim says his understanding was that the public trust doctrine allows people to walk along the shoreline. He chose not to pay the ticket out of principle.
David Strifling, director of Marquette University’s Water Law and Policy Initiative, says previous legal cases have not definitively answered where private ownership ends and public access begins. Yet the public trust doctrine protects the public’s right to access the water. Last fall, Strifling said he would be among the people who will be closely watching the outcome of the Shorewood beach walking case. Strifling has told WUWM the outcome could be pivotal in clarifying Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan shoreline is private or public.
Municipal judge Kirchner listened to almost four hours of debate on Dec. 2 when Florsheim’s case went to court. In her decision, she outlined previous court rulings that influenced her decision. She referred to one in particular, which she says may have been wrong. But Kirchner says “as a municipal court judge, I cannot disregard Doemel, whether rightly or wrongly decided. I must follow it.”
WUWM Environmental Reporter Susan Bence is covering the story. This post will be updated.
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