Thomas Township v. John Sexton Corp.

Respondent appeals as of right from a Saginaw Circuit Court opinion and order which reversed a final decision and order of the Natural Resources Commission. The nrc granted respondent an Inland Lakes and Streams Act *510(ilsa) permit to drain a sixty-two-acre artificial lake in Thomas Township, Saginaw County, Michigan.

The above-mentioned lake is a clay pit which filled with surface water runoff and rain after a clay mining operation ceased in 1969. The parties’ positions are illustrated by petitioner’s calling the body of water a lake and respondent’s calling it a clay pit. We will refer to it…