The township board denied the petition to amend, so Charles C. Hess and ten other non riparian owners in the subdivision brought an action against the township claiming the Township Rural Zoning Act does not authorize a township to regulate riparian rights through the application of a zoning ordinance. The TRZA permits townships to regulate activities to promote the general welfare of the public and to protect the character and natural resources of a township community, primary concerns under the constitution. Regulation of riparian rights is necessary to ensure that land uses are compatible with surrounding properties and to conserve water resources . The TRZA allows townships to balance the most advantageous use of lands, resources and properties within their boundaries and to create zoning districts and ordinances in accordance with such evaluations. Such a balance could not be achieved if riparian rights were excluded form any zoning control by the township .
Most land bordering Michigan s lakes and streams is zoned single-family.
If a township enforces its zoning ordinance as it applies to single family land with riparian rights, keyholing or funneling of large numbers of people onto a waterbody through single-family zoned land, will be prohibited. When a township fails to include riparian rights as land and the use of land as those terms apply to its zoning ordinance the results can be disastrous. In Gerrish Township, twenty families incorporated the Shadyview Association for the purpose of sharing in the purchase of a lot zoned single family with 77 feet of frontage on Higgins lake. The twenty member families share equally the payment of the higher taxes imposed on riparian land. In Lyon Township, eight families formed the Sunseekers Association to purchase a lot zoned single family with 25 feet of lakefront.