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SYRACUSE - The Aug. 23 decision by Kosciusko Circuit Court special Judge Douglas B. Morton declaring Syracuse riparian owner of shoreline abutting its streets and alleys has been appealed by the plaintiffs.
Reiterating comments made earlier in this 2 1/2-year case, attorneys on both sides said the issue would be appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court before it is over. Although the case is still officially Ginger Abbs et al vs. the town of Syracuse et al, the original 15 plaintiffs and 14 defendants have been whittled down by judge's dismissal, moving out of town, or not actively pursuing the appeal since only one plaintiff is needed to file an appeal.
The argument over who owns riparian rights, or rights to place piers in the lake, went once before from a decision by Judge Morton to the Indiana Court of Appeals. The court sent it back to circuit court to determine the intent of the town's platters. Judge Morton finally determined "the dedication of a right-of-way to the public, as appears in the original plat of the Town of Syracuse and the Strombeck and Weaver's Second Addition to the town of Syracuse, includes the grant of riparian rights to the public at the ends of the streets and alleys, including the right of access to the water and the right to place piers and docks."
Plaintiffs' attorney Stephen R. Snyder said this isn't so.
"We're contesting Judge Morton's decision on the issue of intent," said Snyder. According to procedural history of the case cited by the court, the original plat was recorded in 1837, followed by a corrected original plat recorded in 1934, and the Strombeck and Weaver's Second Addition to the town made of record in 1875. Snyder claims the judge based his decision on the more recent one, but that he might have compared the original platters' intent with language in plats of neighboring towns. "If the original platters intended there to be public access, their plat could have been contemporaneous with that of Warsaw, which was platted five years after Strombeck and Weaver," he said.
Warsaw's plat has designated public access sites.
Defendants' attorney Paul Stoelting argues, "Whatever anybody thought in Warsaw or any other town doesn't have an iota to do with what was definitely intended in Syracuse. Snyder presented other plats to Judge Morton at the hearing, and some were dismissed then as irrelevant." Stoelting said that at the last hearing testimony was given on how these rights-of-way have been used for the past 85 years by the public.
Town attorney Robert Reed said there is no more to be done now but wait and see what happens. The town is also represented by attorneys from Ice, Miller, Donadio and Ryan, Indianapolis.
The appeals court will decide whether Judge Morton was wrong, but even then the matter will not be over. Regardless of who loses there will probably be an appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court. After the 225 days allowed to get the matter to appeals court and the few months there, the first determination won't be heard until after piers are put away at the end of the '97 summer season.
