Neenah's private pier issue is clear as mud

Appleton Post Crescent

...Since the 1920s, residents on the west side of Lakeshore Avenue have installed private piers, docks and boat lifts along the picturesque shoreline. City officials periodically have wrestled with the private use of public land, but they never have taken a stand against the practice.

...Godlewski said it is unclear whether the pier owners have legal rights to maintain their piers because of historical use.

Attorney Phillip Munroe, who represents several pier owners, said his clients might have prescriptive easement rights or ownership rights under adverse possession.

Adverse possession, Munroe said, means that if a party acts as the owner of someone else's land, and the other side doesn't take steps to stop it, that party can claim ownership of the land.