St. Clair Shores man faces thousands in fines for docking boats at his property

ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. (FOX 2) - A St. Clair Shores man is racking up thousands of dollars in fines for docking his boats next to waterfront property that he says he owns.

Boat dispute in St. Clair Shores

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The two boats surrounding this story belong to Michael Droogleever and his wife. He bought the property next door four years prior. However, since there’s no home on the property, the city says these boats can’t be here. And in the meantime, he has to pay up.

"It’s about $500 a day, and as we have been recently fined, it’s totaled about $15,000 at this point," said property owner Michael Droogleever. "I chose this to be my home, and I feel like being treated this way, like, is this how you welcome home a veteran, someone who wants to call this place home forever? It doesn’t make any sense."

FOX 2 asked attorney Nicholas Somberg about why this case is unconstitutional.

"It creates a class distinction between occupied dwellings and non-occupied," he said. "Our rights, when you own land that abuts water, your right to use that water for your boat, to have a boat, is well litigated, and they can’t take it away from you completely."

Droogleever also said his neighbors have also had similar issues with the city.

"We kind of want to focus on the constitutionality of the issue, but if someone wants to have someone over for their gardening club or another club, and they have a few folks over one day a week, I’m not going to have a problem. Who would have a problem with that?" he said.

"The problem, I don’t think, is the fact that he’s stowing boats here. I think the problem is the fact that he has parties on the weekend, and there’s cars halfway down the street on both sides. And when I come through here, I have to watch my mirrors, so I’m pretty darn sure a fire truck or an ambulance cannot get down the street," said neighbor Redd Dries.

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Some neighbors do have a problem with this. They believe he’s running some sort of business. Michael denies that and says this is where he’s building his forever home and if the city keeps fining him it’ll take longer to do.

St. Clair Shores