The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-01-14
OCEANS QOEBR FRANKS
Riparian Commissioners Have
a Curious Question to De-
eide-Palisades Pres
ervation.

| sioners have an amusing dispute on theif
| hands, and today ave a long audience
to the Rev. e. B.. Lake, the Rev. Wesley
| Lake and other reverend gentlemen. COM
| posing the Ocean City Association ana
| the Ocean City Electric Railway Com
| pany, and a large number of persons VINO
/ bought lots from the association and now
! ask for the riparian rights fronting their
property. The quasi religious corpora
lions oppose the application and hence
the trouble.
Counsel for the applicants, after a long
review of the facts in the case, pain
etieally appealed to the commissioners
in the following words
Gentlemen, if you have ever run up
| against a lot of Methodist ministers, you
will appreciate the difficulties of my sit
| u~ation."
The case as tersely told by Engineer
]. c.. Payne, was hat the Ocean City
Association had made a map of their
property, showing streets and lots front
| ing on Great Egg Harbor. Some of these
streets were under water. That left the
| association some lots out in the bay.
The association sold to several people lots
fronting on the water, but while map
ping out what they supposed to be their
property, included some of the State
lands. After they had sold these lots the
purchasers applied to the Riparian Com
m~issioners for riparian rights in front OF
the property so bought from the assoc
citation. When the Revs. Lake Bros.
heard of his application they at once
opposed it, and their reason for SO doing
was that the lands under water did not
belong to the State.
in 1850" Messrs. Lake claimed, that
part of the property now under water
was above the water and consequently the
water front covering that land belongs to
the Ocean City Association, n the Ri
parian Commissioners have no jurisdic-
ton in the disposition of the water
rights"
The situation was further complicated,
explained Mr.. Payne, by the fact that the
Ocean City Electric Railroad Company,
composed also of the Revs. Lake and
other members of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, had built an electric railway at
the point of contention, and it runs into
the waters of the bay, over the lands of
the State, so completely shutting off all
access to the property of the applicants,
who are now obliged to go either over
or under the railway if they want to
reach their lots from the bay.
After hearing both sides the Commits
sioners decided to postpone the matter un-
til the next meeting. In the meantime
one of the Commissioners, accompanied
by Engineer Payne. will visit the prop
erty to decide the high-Water mark.
ut is such a shifty object this high
water mark said Mr.. Payne, laughing,
'Hthat unless you catch it with an instan-
taneous photograph you can never tell
where it is"
Indeed said one of the Commission
ers, incredulously, with a dim suspicion
that the engineer was joking.
will be 100 feet out and one fellow will
then be a riparian owner by a large ma
jority. The next day it is liable to be
in an hundred feet to benefit some other
fellow" daughter.)
Mr.. Payne explained this extraordinary
state of things by saying that a north
wind worked wonders at that part of the
bay, and it was absolutely necessary for
the Commissioners to ascertain as near as
possible the high-water mark to deter
mine to whom the State Board would give
the riparian grants.
When this matter was disposed of the
Commissioners turned their attention to
the Palisades question. and one of the
Commissioners made the important an
nouncement that a well known wealthy
man, owning land on the Palisades wa
ter front had offered to donate a large
portion of land and s., 900 to a fund to buy
out the claims of other property owners
for the protection and preservation OF the
natural beauty of the Palisades.
'But the trouble is this said the Com
missioner, s.that this wealthy property
owner finds it a matter of great difficulty
to get anything for such a purpose from
the very people who are clamoring
against the destruction of the Palisades.
They are very energetic in shouting
Save the Palisades but when it comes to
subscribing to a fund to buy out the prop
erty owners for that very purpose they
suddenly become very cold and apathetic."
No action was taken on the application
of Counsellor R. o. Babbitt of this city,
the substance of which exclusively APP
peared in last nights News"