Title 324, NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Sec. 30512. (1) The department shall prescribe administrative procedures and rules and provide personnel as it considers necessary for the enforcement of a zoning ordinance or rule enacted in accordance with this part. A circuit court, upon petition and a showing by the departmen…

Sec. 30513. This part does not preclude a component of the system from becoming a part of the national wild and scenic river system under the wild and scenic rivers act, Public Law 90-542, 16 U.S.C. 1271 to 1287. The department may enter into written cooperative agreements for jo…

Sec. 30514. The department shall approve preliminary and final plans for site or route location, construction, or enlargement of utility transmission lines, publicly provided recreation facilities, access sites, highways, roads, bridges, or other structures and for publicly devel…

Sec. 30515. This part does not prohibit a reasonable and lawful use of any other natural resource that benefits the general welfare of the people of this state and that is not inconsistent with the purpose of this part.

Sec. 30701. As used in this part: (a) "Commissioner" means the county drain commissioner, or the board of county road commissioners in counties not having a drain commissioner. However, if more than 1 county is involved, commissioner means the drain commissioner or board of count…

Sec. 30702. (1) The county board of a county in which an inland lake is located may upon the board's own motion, or shall within 45 days following receipt of a petition to the board of 2/3 of the owners of lands abutting the inland lake, initiate action to take the necessary step…

Sec. 30703. (1) Before proceeding on a motion made or a petition filed under section 30702, the county board may require that a preliminary study be conducted by a licensed professional engineer. The county board, by resolution, may require a cash payment from the petitioners suf…

Sec. 30704. (1) If the county board, based on the preliminary study, finds it expedient to have and resolves to have determined and established the normal level of an inland lake, the county board shall direct the prosecuting attorney or other legal counsel of the county to initi…

Sec. 30705. (1) A special assessment district provided for in section 30704 may issue any of the following in anticipation of the collection of special assessments: (a) Bonds or notes, subject to section 30716. (b) Lake level orders. (2) Bonds or notes issued under subsection (1)…

Sec. 30706. If the department finds it expedient to have the normal level of an inland lake determined, the department may initiate by civil action on behalf of the state, in the court of any county in which the lake is located, a proceeding for determination of the normal level.

Sec. 30707. (1) Upon filing of a civil action under this part, the court shall set a day for a hearing. The prosecuting attorney or other legal counsel of the county or counties or the department shall give notice of the hearing by publication in 1 or more newspapers of general c…

Sec. 30708. (1) After the court determines the normal level of an inland lake in a proceeding initiated by the county, the delegated authority of any county or counties in which the inland lake is located shall provide for and maintain that normal level. (2) A county may acquire,…

Sec. 30709. (1) After the court determines the normal level of an inland lake in a proceeding initiated by the department, the department may provide for and maintain that normal level. (2) In a proceeding initiated by the department, the department has the same powers in connect…

Sec. 30710. If the department or the delegated authority determines that it is necessary to condemn private property for the purpose of this part, the department or county may condemn the property in accordance with the uniform condemnation procedures act, Act No. 87 of the Publi…

Sec. 30711. (1) The county board may determine by resolution that the whole or a part of the cost of a project to establish and maintain a normal level for an inland lake shall be defrayed by special assessments against the following that are benefited by the project: privately o…

Sec. 30712. (1) Computation of the cost of a normal level project shall include the cost of all of the following: (a) The preliminary study. (b) Surveys. (c) Establishing a special assessment district, including preparation of assessment rolls and levying assessments. (d) Acquiri…

Sec. 30713. The delegated authority of a county in which an inland lake is located may contract with a state or federal government agency or a public or private corporation in connection with a project for the establishment and maintenance of a normal level. The contract may spec…

Sec. 30714. (1) A special assessment roll shall describe the parcels of land to be assessed, the name of the owner of each parcel, if known, and the dollar amount of the assessment against each parcel. (2) The delegated authority shall set a time and place for a public hearing or…

Sec. 30715. (1) The county board may provide that assessments under this part are payable in installments. (2) Assessment payments shall be sufficient to meet bond and note obligations of the special assessment district. (3) Special assessments under this part shall be spread upo…

Sec. 30716. (1) With approval of the county board and pursuant to section 30705, the district may issue bonds or notes that are payable by special assessments under this part. Except as provided in subsection (2) and section 30717(3), the issuance of the bonds and notes is subjec…

Sec. 30717. (1) A special assessment district under this part may borrow money or accept an advance of work, material, or money from a public or private corporation, a partnership, an association, an individual, or the federal government or any agency of the federal government fo…

Sec. 30718. Plans and specifications for a dam constructed or maintained under this part shall be prepared by a licensed professional engineer under the direction of the delegated authority. The plans and specifications shall be approved by the department before construction begi…

Sec. 30719. (1) The department may require that a new dam that is proposed to be constructed be equipped with an underspill device for the release of cold bottom waters for the protection of downstream fish habitats. (2) The department may require the installation of a fish ladde…

Sec. 30720. A person who is not authorized by a delegated authority or the department to operate a dam or other normal level control facility and who changes, or causes to change, the level of an inland lake, the normal level of which has been established under this part or any p…

Sec. 30721. A normal level shall not be established for an inland lake in either of the following cases: (a) The inland lake is used as a reservoir for a municipal water supply system, unless a normal level determination is petitioned for by the governing body of the municipality…

Sec. 30722. (1) The delegated authority of a county shall cause an inspection to be made of each dam on an inland lake within the county which has a normal level established under this part or under any previous act governing lake levels. The inspection shall be conducted by a li…

Sec. 30723. This part does not abrogate the requirements of other state statutes.

Sec. 30901. As used in this part: (a) "Benefit" or "benefits" means advantages resulting from a project to public corporations, the inhabitants of public corporations, the inhabitants of this state, and property within public corporations. Benefit includes benefits that result fr…

Sec. 30902. (1) The local governing body of any local unit of government in which the whole or any part of the waters of any public inland lake is situated, upon its own motion or by petition of 2/3 of the freeholders owning lands abutting the lake, for the protection of the publ…

Sec. 30903. (1) The lake board shall consist of all of the following: (a) A member of the county board of commissioners appointed by the chairperson of the county board of commissioners of each county affected by the lake improvement project; 1 representative of each local unit o…

Sec. 30904. Action may be initiated under section 30902 relating to any private inland lake only upon petition of 2/3 of the freeholders owning lands abutting the lake.

Sec. 30905. The county board of commissioners may provide for a revolving fund to pay for the preliminary costs of improvement projects within the county. The preliminary costs shall be assessed to the property owners in the assessment district by the lake board after notice of t…

Sec. 30906. (1) Whenever a local governing body, in accordance with section 30902, considers it expedient to have a lake improved, it, by resolution, shall direct the lake board to institute proceedings as prescribed in this part. (2) When the waters of any inland lake are situat…

Sec. 30907. If the department considers it expedient, in accordance with section 30902, to have a lake dredged or improved, the department may petition the local governing body or governing bodies in which the lake is located for an improvement of the lake. The department may als…

Sec. 30908. The lake board, when instructed by resolution of the local governing body, shall determine the scope of the project and shall establish a special assessment district, including within the special assessment district all parcels of land and local units which will be be…

Sec. 30909. (1) The lake board shall retain a licensed professional engineer to prepare an engineering feasibility report, an economic study report, and an estimate of cost. The report shall include, when applicable, recommendations for normal lake levels and the methods for main…

Sec. 30910. Within 60 days after his or her receipt of the reports, the chairperson shall hold a meeting of the lake board to review the reports required under section 30909 and to determine the practicability of the project. The hearing shall be public, and notice of the hearing…

Sec. 30911. The county board of commissioners may provide up to 25% of the cost of a lake improvement project on any public inland lake.

Sec. 30912. If the lake board passes a resolution in which it determines the project to be practicable, the lake board shall determine to proceed with the project, shall approve the plans and estimate of costs as originally presented or as revised, corrected, amended, or changed,…

Sec. 30913. The assessment roll shall be reported to the lake board by the assessing official of the local unit or units of government initiating the proceeding and filed in the office of the clerk of each local unit of government to be affected. Before confirming the assessment …

Sec. 30914. Upon the confirmation of the assessment roll, the lake board may provide that the assessments be payable in 1 or more approximately equal annual installments, not exceeding 30. The amount of each installment, if more than 1, need not be extended upon the special asses…

Sec. 30915. All special assessments contained in any special assessment roll, including any part of the special assessment payment that is deferred, constitute a lien, from the date of confirmation of the roll, upon the respective parcels of land assessed. The lien shall be of th…

Sec. 30916. When any special assessment roll is confirmed, the lake board shall direct the assessments made in the roll to be collected. The clerk of each local unit of government involved shall then deliver to the treasurer of each local unit of government the special assessment…

Sec. 30917. If the treasurer reports as delinquent any assessment or part of an assessment, the lake board shall certify the delinquency to the assessing official of each local unit of government, who shall reassess, on the annual tax roll of the local unit of government of that …

Sec. 30918. If any parcel of land is divided after a special assessment on the land has been confirmed and before the collection of the assessment, the lake board may require the assessment official to apportion the uncollected amounts between the divisions of the parcel of land,…

Sec. 30919. If the assessments in any special assessment roll prove insufficient for any reason, including the noncollection of the assessment, to pay for the improvement for which they were made or to pay the principal and interest on the bonds issued in anticipation of the coll…