§ 12:3-7 — Grant of riparian land not improved; notice to riparian owner.

12:3-7. If any person or persons, corporation or corporations, or associations, shall desire to obtain a grant for lands under water which have not been improved, and are not authorized to be improved, under any grant or license protected by the provisions of R.S.12:3-2 to R.S.12:3-9, it shall be lawful for the Tidelands Resource Council, together with the Commissioner of Environmental Protection and Attorney General of the State, upon application to them, to designate what lands under water for which a grant is desired lie within the exterior lines, and to fix such price, reasonable compensation, or annual rentals for so much of said lands as lie below high-water mark, as are to be included in the grant or lease for which such application shall be made, and to certify the boundaries, and the price, compensation or annual rentals to be paid for the same, under their hands, which shall be filed in the Office of the Secretary of State; and upon the payment of such price or compensation or annual rentals, or securing the same to be paid to the Treasurer of this State, by such applicant, it shall be lawful for such applicant to apply to the council for a conveyance, assuring to the grantee, his or her heirs and assigns, if to an individual, or to its successors and assigns, if to a corporation, the land under water so described in said certificate; and the council shall, in the name of the State, and under the great seal of the State, grant the said lands in manner last aforesaid, and said conveyance shall be subscribed by the commissioner and the Attorney General and attested by the Secretary of State, and shall be prepared under the direction of the Attorney General, to whom the grantee shall pay the expense of such preparation, and upon the delivery of such conveyance, the grantee may reclaim, improve, and appropriate to his and their own use, the lands contained and described in the said certificate; subject, however, to the regulations and provisions of R.S.12:3-2 and R.S.12:3-3, and such lands shall thereupon vest in said applicant; provided, that no grant or license shall be granted to any other than a riparian proprietor, until six calendar months after the riparian proprietors shall have been personally notified in writing by the applicant for such grant or license, and shall have neglected to apply for the grant or license, and neglected to pay, or secured to be paid, the price that the council shall have fixed; the notice in the case of a minor shall be given to the guardian, and in case of a corporation to any officer doing the duties incumbent upon president, secretary, treasurer or director, and in case of a nonresident, the notice may be by publication for four weeks successively in a daily newspaper published in Hudson county, and in a daily newspaper published in New York city. Amended 2009, c.40, s.2.