Full Text of SB2351 93rd General Assembly
SB2351 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004 SB2351
Introduced 1/28/2004, by Patrick Welch SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Creates the Riparian Rights Act. Establishes rights to the access and use of
the water
and bottomland associated with the ownership of the bank or shore of an inland
lake or stream.
Provides that the owner of these rights has the right to do the following: (a)
place a seasonal
structure on bottomland to facilitate private noncommercial recreational use of
the water if it
does not unreasonably interfere with the use of the water by others entitled to
use the water or
interfere with water flow; (b) reasonably sand beaches to the existing
water's edge; (c)
construct and
operate a pollution control facility that is approved for construction by the
Environmental
Protection Agency under the Environmental Protection Act; (d) construct and
maintain
minor drainage structures and facilities that are identified by rule
established by the
Department of Natural Resources; and (e) construct and maintain privately
owned cooling or
storage ponds used in connection with a public utility except at the interface
with public
waters.
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A BILL FOR
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SB2351 |
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| AN ACT in relation to riparian rights.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, | 3 |
| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the | 5 |
| Riparian Rights
Act.
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| Section 5. Definitions. In this Act:
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| "Bottomland" means the land area of an inland lake or | 8 |
| stream that lies below
the
ordinary high-water mark and that | 9 |
| may or may not be covered by water.
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| "Drain" means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of | 11 |
| a drainage
system that
receives the discharge from soil, waste, | 12 |
| and other
drainage pipes inside the walls of a building and | 13 |
| conveys it to 5 feet beyond
the foundation walls where it is | 14 |
| connected to the building sewer.
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| "Building sewer" means that part of the horizontal piping | 16 |
| of a drainage
system that extends from the end of the drain, | 17 |
| receives the discharge of the
drain, and conveys
it to a public | 18 |
| sewer or private sewage disposal system.
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| "Impoundment" means water held back by a dam, dike, | 20 |
| floodgate, or other
barrier.
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| "Inland lake or stream" means a natural or artificial lake, | 22 |
| pond, or
impoundment; a river,
stream, or creek that may or may | 23 |
| not be serving as a drain; or any other body
of water that has
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| definite banks, a bed, and visible evidence of a continued flow | 25 |
| or continued
occurrence of
water. "Inland lake or stream" does | 26 |
| not include:
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| (1) Lake Michigan or any other public bodies of water | 28 |
| administered under
the
Rivers,
Lakes, and Streams Act;
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| (2) Kaskaskia River below Carlyle Dam or water storage | 30 |
| in Carlyle Lake and
Lake
Shelbyville administered under the | 31 |
| Kaskaskia River Watershed and Basin
Act;
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| (3) water storage in Rend Lake administered under the |
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| Rend Lake Dam and
Reservoir on the Big Muddy River Act;
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| (4) water storage in Kinkaid Lake administered under | 3 |
| the Big Kinkaid
Creek
Reservoir
Act; or
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| (5) a lake or pond that has a surface area of less than | 5 |
| 5 acres.
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| "Marina" means a commercial business that is owned or | 7 |
| operated by a person,
with
facilities that extend into or over | 8 |
| an inland lake or stream, and offers
service to the public or
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| members of the marina for docking, loading, or other servicing | 10 |
| of recreational
watercraft.
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| "Ordinary high-water mark" means the line between upland | 12 |
| and bottomland that
persists
through successive changes in | 13 |
| water levels, below which the presence and action
of the water
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| is so common or recurrent that the character of the land is | 15 |
| marked distinctly
from the upland
and is apparent in the soil | 16 |
| itself, the configuration of the surface of the
soil, and the | 17 |
| vegetation.
On an inland lake that has a level established by | 18 |
| law, it means the high
established level.
Where water returns | 19 |
| to its natural level as the result of the permanent removal
or | 20 |
| abandonment
of a dam, it means the natural ordinary high-water | 21 |
| mark.
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| "Property owners' association" means any group of | 23 |
| organized property owners
publishing a directory of their | 24 |
| membership, the majority of which are riparian
owners or
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| members of a private trust that owns riparian property located | 26 |
| on the inland
lake or stream.
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| "Riparian owner" means a person or property owners' | 28 |
| association that has
riparian
rights.
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| "Riparian rights" means those rights to the access and use | 30 |
| of the water and
bottomland
associated with the ownership of | 31 |
| the bank or shore of an inland lake or stream.
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| "Seasonal structure" includes any type of dock, boat hoist, | 33 |
| ramp, raft, or
other
recreational structure that is placed into | 34 |
| an inland lake or stream and removed
at the end of the
boating | 35 |
| season.
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| "Structure" includes a marina, wharf, dock, pier, dam, |
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| weir, stream
deflector, breakwater,
groin, jetty, sewer, | 2 |
| pipeline, cable, and bridge.
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| "Upland" means the land area that lies above the ordinary | 4 |
| high-water mark.
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| "Reasonable use" by riparian owners includes the use of the | 6 |
| water and
associated
bottomland for the purposes of sport | 7 |
| fishing, swimming, and related activities
including (i) the
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| establishment and maintenance of private beaches, (ii) the use | 9 |
| and operation of
recreational watercraft
including the | 10 |
| erection and maintenance of private seasonal structures for the
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| launching,
docking, and mooring of recreational watercraft, | 12 |
| and (iii) the supplying of
water for
private,
noncommercial | 13 |
| use.
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| "Commercial" means a business offering the sale of goods or | 15 |
| services to the
public
without regard to their riparian | 16 |
| property owner's status.
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| "Private" means applying to riparian property owners or | 18 |
| property owners'
association
noncommercial activities.
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| Section 10. Riparian rights. A riparian owner has the | 20 |
| following rights
except as otherwise
prohibited by law:
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| (1) A riparian owner may place a seasonal structure on | 22 |
| bottomland to
facilitate private
noncommercial
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| recreational use of the water if it does not unreasonably | 24 |
| interfere with the
use of the water by
others entitled to | 25 |
| use the water or interfere with water flow.
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| (2) A riparian owner may reasonably sand beaches to the | 27 |
| existing water's
edge.
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| (3) A riparian owner may construct and operate a | 29 |
| pollution control
facility
that is approved
for | 30 |
| construction
by the Environmental Protection Agency under | 31 |
| the Environmental Protection Act.
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| (4) A riparian owner may construct and maintain minor | 33 |
| drainage structures
and facilities that
are identified
by | 34 |
| rule established by the Department of Natural Resources.
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| (5) A riparian owner may construct and maintain |
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| privately owned cooling or
storage ponds used
in
connection | 2 |
| with a public utility except at the interface with public | 3 |
| waters.
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