An Aug. 13 hearing marked the next step in the appeal of a Shorewood Municipal Court case that could become a pivotal test of public access to Lake Michigan’s shoreline − a question other Great Lakes states have settled but Wisconsin courts have yet to fully address.
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge J.D. Watts heard oral arguments at the Milwaukee County Courthouse on whether to uphold the municipal court’s ruling that found Paul Florsheim, a Shorewood resident and professor at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, trespassed on private property while walking along Lake Michigan at Shorewood’s Atwater Beach in July 2025.
Once both sides stated their cases, Watts said he would deliver a written decision by Sept. 4.
“I still don’t know what’s going to happen,” Florsheim told the Journal Sentinel after the hearing. “My concern is that what we end up with doesn’t resolve the larger issue of, can the public have clear access to public trust land, and that includes the beach.”
At the municipal court case last December, Florsheim argued the trespassing citation Shorewood police issued was unlawful. However, the court ruled against him, ordering him to pay the $313 ticket.
At the time, Florsheim told the Journal Sentinel he planned to appeal the decision, both on principle and to clarify where the public can access Great Lakes shorelines in Wisconsin.
Florsheim’s argument continues to hinge on the Wisconsin’s public trust doctrine, which allows people to walk between the water’s edge and the ordinary high-water mark.
The ordinary high-water mark is the point on a shoreline where the water’s repeated movement in and out leaves a lasting mark. That could be erosion, the loss of vegetation or another recognizable change in the landscape.
That mark is central to the legal dispute over where public access ends and private property begins. Watts said his decision would reference a colored print-out from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Florsheim submitted in municipal court, which showed what high-water mark can look like in difference bodies of water — including Lake Michigan.
Shorewood’s village attorney Nathan Bayer argued that private shoreline owners control the land down to the water’s edge, citing the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s 1923 decision in Doemel v. Jantz.
But that case involved inland Lake Winnebago, not one of the Great Lakes, something Watts said makes the rule “somewhat” different from Florsheim’s case involving Lake Michigan.
Lake Michigan beach access targets century-old ruling
Last January’s decision by the Shorewood municipal judge suggested that Doemel may be outdated, appearing to leave the door open for the appeal.
Since that century-old decision, Wisconsin courts have broadened the public trust doctrine to protect recreation and other water-related public interests, something Florsheim’s lawyers highlighted during the Aug. 13 appeal hearing.
The Doemel decision also relied on assumptions about other states’ shoreline laws that no longer hold. For instance, Michigan and Indiana now allow public walking along parts of their Great Lakes shorelines.
On Aug. 13, Watts said it was unlikely the circuit court would overturn Doemel, which Florsheim wants to see addressed by the State Supreme Court.
Dispute at Lion’s Den keeps shoreline-access debate alive
This isn’t the only time this issue has come up within the last year.
Near Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve in Ozaukee County, a property owner placed signs, ropes and a camera along the bluff to mark private-property boundaries, renewing the debate over where beachgoers may legally walk and how Wisconsin’s public-trust doctrine applies to the shoreline.
That beach conflict also remains unresolved.
Currently, Ozaukee County is considering permanent signs and having the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources determine where the ordinary high-water mark is located so visitors can legally access the Lake Michigan.
Jack Albright can be reached at JAlbright@usatodayco.com.
Caitlin Looby covers the Great Lakes and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact: clooby@gannett.com. Follow her on X @caitlooby.
Caitlin is an Outrider Fellow and also receives support from the Brico Fund, Fund for Lake Michigan, Barbara K. Frank, and individual contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
The JS Community-Funded Journalism Project is made possible through our partnership with Local Media Foundation, tax ID #36-4427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association, and EnMotive, LLC, a subsidiary of USA TODAY Co., Inc.−the parent company of this publication.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lake Michigan beach access appeal could define public, private rights
Reporting by Jack Albright and Caitlin Looby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Jack Albright and Caitlin Looby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
