Opinion ID: 2289766
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Payment of Compensation to State

Text: Having concluded that the Wetlands Act of 1970 applies to Worcester County we reach the question of whether the Board of Public Works may require compensation be paid to the State for materials obtained within the borrow area limit line or for the use of the bottom of the Isle of Wight Bay within the prescribed bulkhead line. Sections 15A and 15B of the Public Local Law are silent on this point. Larmar takes the position that for 220 years (1745-1965) extensive land filling has taken place in navigable waters throughout the State without the State asserting any right to compensation and that acquiescence in this practice is tacit admission that the State has no right to exact compensation. However, we would ascribe the State's failure to exact compensation for the removal of deposits from navigable water bottoms or for the dumping of fill on submerged land to a matter of policy, rather than to an absence of the right to do so. It is established beyond cavil that the State owns title to the submerged land under the navigable waters of the State. Baltimore v. McKim, supra , and Brown v. Kennedy, supra, and our predecessors in Potomac Dredging Co. v. Smoot, 108 Md. 54, 63-64, 69 A. 507 (1908), stated that at common law the riparian owner had no rights in offshore deposits, stating: We have discussed this case upon the presumption, in favor of the plaintiff company, that the owner of the land bordering on Moxley farm could, at the date of the lease from Boswell to Cameron, grant the right to take sand and gravel from the water front or shore of his land below high water mark. At common law the owner of riparian land could not grant such a license. Day v. Day, 22 Md. 530, but under the Act of 1900, Ch. 577 it became lawful for owners of land bordering on the Potomac River to do so and by the Act of 1906, Ch. 426 [This act was the forerunner of Art. 27, § 485] that power was conferred upon owners of lands bordering on any of the navigable rivers, creeks, or branches of the State.    (Emphasis supplied.) 108 Md. 63-64. As we have previously discussed, the Wetlands Act of 1970, among other things, repealed Article 27, § 485 which latter act gave to the riparian owner the right to dredge and take materials from the bottom of navigable rivers in front of his shoreline. Therefore, the riparian owner is now in the same position as he was at common law, except that he has resort to the provisions of the Wetlands Act of 1970, which created the administrative machinery whereby application may be made to the Board of Public Works for a permit to dredge or fill on State wetlands. Section 721 of Art. 66C (the Wetlands Act of 1970) provides that after the Board of Public Works has received a recommendation from the Secretary of Natural Resources regarding the requested permit, it shall hold a hearing in the local subdivision affected and:    shall then decide if issuance of the license is in the best interests of the State, taking into account the varying ecological, economic, developmental, recreational and aesthetic values each application presents, and if it so decides, shall issue a license for such consideration, and according to such terms and conditions as it deems advisable. (Emphasis supplied.) We think under this last quoted provision of Section 721 of the Act that the Board of Public Works clearly has the authority to exact the consideration and surety requirements for a license to dredge and fill as established by the policy adopted in its meeting of August 1, 1968. We do not think it necessary to a decision in this case to view the Board of Public Works' authority retrospectively as of August 1, 1968, prior to the effective date of the Wetlands Act of 1970 (although we doubt that our conclusion would be different) as this element of the case is controlled by Janda v. General Motors, 237 Md. 161, 169, 205 A.2d 228 (1964). In Janda, Judge Hammond (now Chief Judge) writing for the Court said: A statute which affects or controls a matter still in [appellate] litigation when it became law will be applied by the court reviewing the case at the time the statute takes effect although it was not yet law when the decision appealed from was rendered, even if matters or claims of substance (not constitutionally protected), as distinguished from matters procedural or those affecting the remedy are involved, unless the Legislature intended the contrary. See Yorkdale Corp. v. Powell, 237 Md. 121, and cases cited; see also Day v. Day, 22 Md. 530 (a patent to land covered by navigable waters, valid when issued by the Commissioner of Land Office was made invalid by a law passed during the pendency of the appeal; the Court of Appeals held the law applicable and controlling and reversed the issuance of the patent);   . 237 Md. at 169. Larmar contends that the legal impact of the Wetlands Act of 1970 on this case was not before the lower court and hence cannot be considered on appeal, citing Maryland Rule 885. However, Judge Prettyman in his opinion did refer to the Wetlands Act of 1970 and the learned Judge made it abundantly clear that, in his opinion, the 1970 Act did not apply to Worcester County. On the basis of Janda, supra, as well as the fact that Judge Prettyman passed upon its applicability to Worcester County, we think the effect of the Wetlands Act of 1970 upon this litigation is quite properly an issue before this Court. Further support for the proposition that the Board of Public Works has a right (if not a duty) to require consideration for a license to dredge and fill on State wetlands may be found in Code (1969 Repl. Vol.) Art. 78A, § 15, wherein it is stated in pertinent part:    Any real or personal property of the State of Maryland    may be sold, leased, transferred, exchanged, granted or otherwise disposed of    for a consideration adequate in the opinion of the Board of Public Works   . As used herein, the term `real or personal property or any legal or equitable rights, interest, privileges, or easements in, to, or under the same' shall include the inland waters of the State and land under said waters   . The statute also provides that the consideration may be currency or other property. Finally, recapitulating the conclusions which we have reached as they affect the declarations made by the learned chancellor below and as developed in this opinion, we hold: (1) That title to so much of the Hoddinott-Richards Property as was filled and reclaimed in 1964 vested, in fee, in Larmar Corporation, to the same extent as title to the original upland may be vested in the Larmar Corporation, such title not now being subject to any right or claim by the State of Maryland, or any other person, firm or corporation, except to the extent that the original uplands may have been subject to such right or claim (This holding corresponds with declaration numbered 6 set forth in the opinion of the court below); and (2) That any future reclamation of the land in front of Hoddinott-Richards Property to the west into the waters of the Isle of Wight Bay must be accomplished in compliance with the Wetlands Act of 1970 (Code (1970 Repl. Vol.), Art. 66C, § 718 through 731) and Sections 15A and 15B of the Public Local Laws of Worcester County (This holding modifies declarations numbered 1, 3, and 7 of the declarations set forth in the opinion of the lower court); and (3) That title to any reclaimed land on the Hoddinott-Richards Property in 1964 may be freely encumbered and alienated by Larmar either as a part of, or separate from, the title to the original upland (This holding modifies declaration numbered 7 set forth in the opinion of the court below.); and (4) That the Board of Public Works has a right to require consideration for a license to dredge and fill on State wetlands as provided in the policy adopted by that Board on August 1, 1968 (This holding reversed declaration numbered 2 set forth in the opinion of the court below); and (5) That the cost of the proceeding be paid equally by Larmar, the Board of Public Works of Maryland, and the Maryland Water Resources Commission (This holding modifies declaration numbered 9 set forth in the opinion of the court below). Order affirmed in part, reversed in part and modified in part, and remanded for the passage of an order consistent with this opinion, costs to be paid equally by Larmar Corporation, the Board of Public Works, and the Maryland Water Resources Commission.