The agglomeration of land parcels into what has become the C&O Club has a fascinating history. It takes some digging to discover that what you see when you drive down C&O Club Drive or Stroud Court is not necessarily what you think it is.
The photograph to the left, which includes the entire C&O Club, comes from the Charlevoix County Treasurer’s Parcel Search & Mapping web page.
Most of the C&O Club units and common elements were owned either by (a) Waterfront Partners, which acquired the property along the lake from the C&O Railroad, or (b) Oscar Stroud and family. Roughly speaking, the first seven or so units and the last six units along the lake were the railroad property. Everything else was the Stroud property, including about 330 feet of lakeshore property roughly in the area of present Units 8 and 9.
What constitutes the C&O Club? If you look at the above picture, the C&O Club consists of (a) the sixteen parcels along Lake Charlevoix that do NOT have a red line along the shore, (b) parts (not all) of C&O Club Drive, (c) the ten lots on the northwest side of C&O Club Drive, (d) the eleven lots on Stroud Court, (e) Stroud Court, and (f) the parcel of land bordered by US-31, Unit 36, Stroud Court, and the businesses along US-31.
Legally speaking, when you drive from Cherry Street down C&O Club Drive, you don’t travel on C&O Club property until the road completes the bend to the right that begins in front of Unit 4. From Cherry Street to Unit 1, the long narrow sliver of property on which the road lies as well as the rectangle of land between the road and the vegetation toward the beach is still owned by the developer, Waterfront Partners, L.P. In front of Units 1 through 6, C&O Club Drive sits all or in part on an easement granted by the owners of the properties that front on Mercer Boulevard.
The primary organizational documents of the C&O Club are the Master Deed (which contains the original By-laws) and the ten amendments to the Master Deed. But there are a number of other easements, agreements, and board resolutions that you need to review to understand all of the rights, privileges, and obligations of the Association. These are organized and described briefly below.
Master Deed and Amendments
Master Deed and Original Bylaws
First Amendment (gave Stroud the option to add to the development the property that later became the Stroud Court, modified certain rights of the developers, and amended several bylaws)
Second Amendment (corrected survey errors)
Third Amendment (added the Stroud Court units to the project, changed the location of pedestrian easements from Stroud Court to C&O Club Drive, and other matters)
Fourth Amendment (dealt further with Stroud Court)
Fifth Amendment (dealt with the possibility that Units 31-33 would be owned by a common owner and might be combined into a single unit)
Sixth Amendment (dealt with the addition of the ravine area between Stroud Court and US-31 to the development)
Seventh Amendment ((a) changed the pedestrian easement location on Unit 36, and (b) authorized all notices and communications to be made by email or other electronic means)
Eighth Amendment (dealt with the addition of a small parcel of land contiguous to Monte’s Car Wash)
Ninth Amendment (clarified the status of the Beach Area and the Common Dock as a common element)
Tenth Amendment (dealt with transfering, borrowing, or using assets as between various Association funds)
Easements and Agreements Relating to C&O Club Drive
As noted above, C&O Club Drive from the Cherry Street cul-de-sac to the spot where it completes the bend to the right beginning in front of Unit 4 does not lie on property owned by the C&O Club Association. A large portion of it still belongs to the developer Waterfront Partners. The Waterfront-C&O Club Access Agreement below contains Waterfront’s commitment to maintain access to the portion of C&O Club Drive that begins in front of Unit 1. Note that there is no guarantee that C&O Club Drive will always be in the same place. Waterfront retains the right, if it were to develop or sell the property, to change the road to provide alternative access either to Cherry Street or to Mercer Boulevard.
The following chart shows the complicated ownership and easement arrangements at the curve of the road, with the documentation following:
Just beyond the Cherry Street cul-de-sac as you enter, the road in two places crosses property owned historically by the Pew family (and now owned by the Dow family) (this can be seen on the photograph above). The following recorded documents establish a perpetual easement across that property:
Deed 1 - Charco to PEN Partners
Deed 2 - Charco to PEN Partners
Deed - PEN Partners to Waterfront Partners
Acknowledgment of Charco Easement (“Pew Easement”)
(The C&O Railroad abandoned its service through Charlevoix in the early 1980s. In 1983, it sold several parcels of property abutting the 100 foot track right-of-way to a company organized under the name “Charco, Inc.” In 1991, Waterfront acquired four parcels. Three of the parcels constituted most of the lake shore abutting the right-of-way from the present Units 1 to 14. The other parcel is the one pointed out in the map above, abutting the right-of-way inland from the lake. The actual 100 foot right-of-way itself became the property of the Michigan Department of Transportation (“M-DOT”). In late 1992, Waterfront acquired that right-of-way from M-DOT.)
The foregoing easements would have permitted C&O Club Drive to extend directly toward the lake from the cul-de-sac and make a hard left turn. To permit the road to curve, the following easements were established:
Glueck-Waterfront Agreement (Gluecks grant an easement permitting the road to curve across a corner of the Glueck parcel; Waterfront grants an access easement from the Glueck main property to the Glueck shoreline property).
Wyler-Waterfront Agreement (See Glueck easement)
The road then runs across property still owned by Waterfront Partners (this area includes the two stone gate monuments):
Waterfront-C&O Club Access Easement Agreement (regarding area between Cherry Street and Unit 1). The status and history of that area is complicated, as detailed here: Analysis of Entrance Area along C&O Club Drive
Finally, from Unit 1 to the completion of the bend in the road, the road runs all or in part across the “Otis Easements”:
Otis Easement (allows C&O Club Drive to lie on the property adjacent to Units 1-5)
Agreements Relating to the “Trailer Park”
There are also agreements relating to the acquisition of the property and the berm that borders C&O Club Drive across from Units 13-15.
Other Pertinent Board Resolutions
Board Resolution and Notice regarding Transient Rentals (adopted 2010)
Board Resolution and Notice regarding Assessment Installments (adopted 2013)