§ 12:3-27 — Enlarging or reducing tidewater basins; reclamation; leases and grants; limitations

Whenever the state has, prior to March fourth, one thousand nine hundred and eighteen, dedicated any lands under water to public use as a tidewater basin, it shall be lawful for the board, on the application of the owners of all of the lands abutting thereon, to either enlarge or reduce the area of said basin or change the boundaries thereof, and said owners of lands adjoining and abutting upon said tidewater basin are hereby authorized to fill up and reclaim the same to such extent as the board in writing may confirm, and the board is hereby authorized and empowered upon the payment of an adequate consideration therefor, to grant or lease in the manner provided by law to the owners of lands adjoining and abutting upon said tidewater basin, the state's rights in any portion of said basin so filled up and reclaimed; provided, however, that no reclamation by any person of said lands and no grant or lease thereof by the board shall be valid unless all of the owners of lands fronting and abutting on said basin shall consent in writing thereto. Nothing in this section shall authorize the entire closing of any such basin or its reduction in width to less than two hundred feet; nor shall this section apply to any lands of the Morris Canal and Banking Company, or operate to relieve said company from any obligation imposed upon it by law.