Opinion ID: 1766983
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: does the 1989 tidelands legislation result in a donation of public trust land?

Text: In reviewing the 1989 Tidelands Act, this Court realizes that the legislative enactment is cloaked with a presumption of constitutionality, and in order to rebut this presumption the unconstitutionality must appear beyond reasonable doubt. Mississippi Power Co. v. Goudy, 459 So.2d 257, 263 (Miss. 1984). It is not this Court's duty to look for factual possibilities or scenarios that would create conflict with the statute, thereby rendering the statute unconstitutional. Rather, this Court's duty is to interpret the Act and envision facts and scenarios in which the statute could be held constitutional. Even the Secretary of State conceded during oral arguments that this legislation could easily be declared constitutional, but for the use of the 1973 mean high water line in developed areas. Not surprisingly, both sides emphasize different views on this Court's standard of review with respect to statutory construction. However, in Aikerson v. State, 274 So.2d 124 (Miss. 1973), this Court said: It is a general rule in construing statutes this Court will not only interpret the words used, but will consider the purpose and policy which the legislature had in view of enacting the law. The court will then give effect to the intent of the legislature. State Highway Commission v. Coahoma County, 203 Miss. 629, 32 So.2d 555, 37 So.2d 287 (1947). 274 So.2d at 127. The legislative purpose and intent in enacting the tidelands legislation is clearly defined in the Preamble to the legislation. See § 29-15-1, Editor's Note. (1990). Land sales were being prevented; financing was difficult; economic growth and development declined along the coast line; and, area landowners grew increasingly apprehensive about the status of the land titles. Our nation has championed land ownership as being desirable and as a foundation for our free society and strong democracy. Land lines and land titles are truly lines that secure freedom and titles announce democracy. We had a situation along our coastline where the State could at any time lay claim to any portion of land that was in close proximity to the coastline. The uncertainty was intolerable with our understanding of fee ownership and it was unreliable for investment, development, or the peaceful enjoyment of a citizen's property. In most areas the mean high tide line had not been found or determined. There was an increasing probability that the State would act to protect the public interest. The period of laissez faire ended with the adoption of the 1973 coastal wetlands act and the adoption and the implementation of 1978 Sixteenth Section Reform Act. The Legislature recognized that there needed to be consistent application and equitable enforcement of the public trust across the entire gulf coast from Alabama to Louisiana, including every bay, sand beach or inlet. The intent of the legislation was to finally put to rest the confusion and chaos surrounding Mississippi's shoreline property. The main thrust of Appellant's challenge to the 1989 Tidelands Legislation appears to be the drawing of the preliminary map. According to the Tidelands Act, the Secretary of State shall prepare a preliminary map depicting the delineation between public and private lands as of the current mean high water line in undeveloped areas, and as of the nearest effective date of the Coastal Wetlands Protection Act in developed areas said Act having an effective date of July 1, 1973. We must note that the Secretary of State does not dispute the use of the current mean high tide line in undeveloped areas. However, he does argue that the use of the 1973 mean high water line in developed areas will result in a donation of public trust property. The Secretary of State claims that upland property owners occupying accreted property developed prior to July 1, 1973, will be granted ownership to property formerly held in the public trust since 1817 statehood. The Secretary of State contends that the appropriate date on which to base the preliminary map should be the mean high water line as of the date on which the property was developed, which in many cases would be prior to 1973. In support of his argument, the Secretary of State contends that the cost of determining this mean high water line as of the date of development would be no greater than the cost of determining it as of 1973. The Secretary of State argues that the end result of this legislation, if adopted, would be a donative transfer of public trust property at the expense of the citizens of this State. He cites Art. IV, § 95 of the Mississippi Constitution, which states: Section 95. Lands belonging to, or under the control of the state, shall never be donated directly or indirectly, to private corporations or individuals, or to railroad companies. Nor shall such land be sold to corporations or associations for a less price than that for which it is subject to sale to individuals. This, however, shall not prevent the legislature from granting a right of way, not exceeding one hundred feet in width, as a mere easement, to railroads across state land, and the legislature shall never dispose of the land covered by said right of way so long as such easement exists. Miss. Const. art. IV, § 95 (1890). Next, the Secretary of State argues that his discretion in revising the preliminary map is limited to the comments and documentation received within the sixty days following the publication of the preliminary map, and only to more accurately depict the line of mean high water as of July 1, 1973. Finally, the Secretary of State claims that his interpretation of the Tidelands Act should be given deference, since he is the one charged with its implementation. See L.H. Conard Furniture v. Mississippi State Tax Commission, 160 Miss. 185, 133 So. 652, 655 (1931). Although the interpretation by an agency charged with implementing a statute is often given deference, this deference is not controlling. Id. The Secretary of State has the responsibility of managing the lands held in public trusts. An agency assigned the task of implementing legislation should be knowledgeable about the subject. In the present case, the Secretary of State possesses both the technical knowledge and the pertinent data that will reflect the true situation and the Secretary can develop facts concerning any artificial accretions that were not done pursuant to legislative enactment and for a higher public purpose. This Court, like the State of Mississippi's argument in the case sub judice, does not interpret the tidelands legislation as a donation in violation of § 95 of the Mississippi Constitution, but rather as a unified attempt by the Legislature to resolve the discord existing between the State and area landowners. After balancing the rights of the citizens of our State to use and enjoy public trust lands against the needs of the adjoining landowners to resolve this long and plaguing uncertainty, Chancellor Stewart found the tidelands legislation constitutional. In doing so he stated, while a few may improvidently benefit from the 1989 Tidelands Act, and while a few may be harmed by it, the overall effect of the Act will not be to donate public property to private interests, but will act as a long delayed delineation between public and private interests. An integral cog of this Act is the amount of discretion which the Secretary of State was granted in finalizing the map. Absent this discretion, the Act might not have passed constitutional muster. The Legislature here recognized a pervasive problem, and they acted reasonably and constitutionally to solve the problem by using a constitutional office, the Secretary of State, who is charged with management responsibility in the area of trust lands. The Legislature has followed a consistent, steady and determined path toward better management of public trust lands through the adoption of practical legislation to be administered by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State can at all times act to protect the public trust. We concede that basing the mean high water line as of 1973 will not produce a perfect line, but after the Secretary of State incorporates all comments concerning any artificial changes and applies his discretion, the plan will produce a tidelands map that protects the public's interest as well as private ownership and hopefully put to rest the chaos that has plagued this subject matter and this geographical area for many years. The Secretary of State, after mapping, hearing comments and applying discretion, must hold to a minimum, any incidental or accidental public trust land losses. In upholding this legislation, we interpret the use of the July 1, 1973, date as a starting point in ascertaining the mean high water line in developed areas. Contrary to the Secretary of State's interpretation, this date is not a mandatory bench mark. Rather, the preliminary map shall be drawn as it existed on July 1, 1973, and all interested parties, including adjacent landowners, the public, and the Secretary of State, will have sixty days in which to submit comments which may be used to adjust the final map. Any comments indicating the presence of any unauthorized artificial filling on developed properties prior to July 1, 1973, should be reflected on the final map. This means that the Secretary of State may also incorporate his own comments into the final map. This vast discretion gives the Secretary of State a superior voice in finalizing the map. Section 29-15-7(5) gives affected landowners a six month period in which to negotiate with the Secretary of State to attempt to resolve any conflicts arising from the final map. However, extensions may be granted by the Secretary of State. Miss. Code Ann. § 29-15-7(4) (1990). Those adversely affected persons who are unable to resolve their differences via administrative avenues, may seek judicial relief by filing suit within a three year period following the publication of the final map. Miss. Code Ann. § 29-15-7(6) (1990). After the three year period expires, all claims will be barred. In any action, the State shall have the burden of proof by a preponderance of evidence that any such land is subject to the trust. Miss. Code Ann. § 29-15-7(5) (1990). After the preliminary map is drawn using the mean high water line in developed areas as of July 1, 1973, the burden of proof is on the Secretary of State to show that any artificial accretion occurring prior to July 1, 1973, was not done pursuant to a constitutional legislative enactment and for a higher public purpose. There is no constraint on the final map to include or exclude any lands which have been artificially filled prior to 1973. However, if a landowner can show that this artificial filling was done pursuant to a legislative act, or for a higher public purpose, the 1973 mean high water line should remain in tact. Following the sixty day comment period, the Secretary of State may in his discretion make any revisions. An unconstitutional donation should not survive this process, since the common law of this State pertaining to tidelands, submerged lands, and riparian and littoral rights are to be applied. See Miss. Code Ann. § 29-15-7(2). Section 29-15-7(2) of the Act recognizes that the public trust tidelands are ambulatory in nature, and that the boundaries will change with the natural conditions. This section explicitly states that the common law doctrines pertaining to tidelands such as natural accretion and reliction continue to be applicable. The owner of water bounded lands is entitled to any accretions, including the gradual deposit of alluvial soil upon margin of water or gradual recession of waters. Cinque Bambini, 491 So.2d at 519. In the alternative, a private landowner may lose title to lands via reliction. Id. [W]here the forces of nature-gradually and imperceptibly-have operated to expand or enlarge the inland reach of the ebb and flow of the tide, the new tidelands so affected accrete to the trust. Id. at 520. Such will be the case with the new legislation. As the mean high water lines continue to change over time, this change will be reflected by the continuous mapping process as set out by the tidelands legislation. The rationale for using the 1973 Coastal Wetlands Protection Act as a beginning point is founded both in logic and economics. Prior to 1973, there was no procedure in place for documenting changes in the natural state of tidelands. If this Court were to adopt the Secretary of State's proposed plan of ascertaining the mean high water line as of the date of development of each parcel of developed property, it would prove to be very costly. Furthermore, it appears to be unnecessary. Surely a unified, consistent, and publicly enforced solution is the best solution. In Cinque Bambini, the oil companies involved paid for two expert surveyors to redraw the boundary lines. The onerous task of surveying the mere 2400 acres cost the litigants an astounding 1.5 million dollars. The present case involves over 100 miles of coastline, and if every inlet on the shoreline were to be tracked, the miles would number in the thousands. Each parcel of land and every title owner would be in play and able to sue and be sued, the result being applicable only to the parcel at issue. This State should not require a plan with such a time consuming, inconvenient and expensive undertaking. However, we are in no way intimating that the State should give up title to property simply because the procedure to establish title is costly or slow. There are other legal considerations involved. If the developed areas were to be surveyed as of the date of development, the cost would be enormous. In addition it would create more lawsuits to determine exactly what constitutes development, what precise time did this development occur, who did it and why, and was it somehow authorized. The more efficient method is to determine the tidelands boundaries as of one point in time, therefore making it applicable to everyone at the same time, in the same manner, and with all having a right to be heard. This legislation was made dependent on the Coastal Wetlands Protection Act of 1973 in order to utilize tideland maps which the Bureau of Marine Resources prepared for use in the preservation of the coastal wetlands. The 1973 Act provided a procedure for documenting changes in the natural state of the public trust tidelands. Appropriate boundaries can be determined using the existing tideland maps, created as a result of the passage of the Coastal Wetlands Protection Act. This alleviates the expense of having to reconstruct the mean high water line as of the development of each parcel of property. This Court has allowed the transfer of public trust property to private parties when it is incidental to achieving a higher public purpose. In Treuting v. Bridge and Park Commission of City of Biloxi, 199 So.2d 627 (Miss. 1967), we upheld the right to allow submerged lands on Deer Island, an island approximately a quarter-mile off the coast of Biloxi, to be sold by the Park Commission in fee simple. (Though the areas of residences, schools, churches and golf courses never developed, the case did help develop the law of the subject matter before us.). In Treuting, a suit was brought to confirm title to 12.58 acres of land, with accretions, plus 150 acres of submerged lands abounding the western tip of Deer Island. The alleged urgent need of physical space for expansion fueled the desire to develop this area. The Legislature authorized the Park Commission to cooperate with a private corporation in developing this area which when completed, would result in 47% of the developed area being used for public purposes such as two eighteen-hole golf courses, two nine-hole golf courses, beaches, parks, greenbelts, waterways, school, churches, marinas, streets, drainage, and similar facilities. The remaining 53% of the area was to be devoted to residential, commercial and resort development. In allowing the fee simple conveyance of these surface and submerged lands, this Court stated: Under the particular facts of this case, the chancery court was warranted in concluding that the state could convey to the Park Commission fee simple title to the submerged lands in question, for public purposes and uses for the development of Deer Island. Moreover, the legislature was justified in authorizing sale of these lands, when filled in and developed, to private individuals as an incident to the overall public interest and purpose in accommodating an expanding population, commerce, tourism and recreation. There will be no substantial interference with the original purposes of the trust imposed upon the state in connection with these submerged lands, and the development as authorized by the statutes is consistent with the public trust. Denial of the legislature's power to provide for development of Deer Island in the manner intended by the Park Commission would be inconsistent with the public trust with the state is charged with administering. It would frustrate any practical attempt to put these lands to any meaningful use, public or otherwise. The sale of individual lots to private owners cannot be separated from the general context of the overall public purposes involved. If the totality of the development promotes the public interest in general, the incidental private ownership of individual lots does not negate the comprehensive public purpose. 199 So.2d at 633. The Treuting Court stated that the developer's dredging of the channel for use as fill for the island in no way harmed the public's right of navigation, swimming, or fishing. In fact, the dredging of the channel bottom would have a positive effect on the channel. Id. at 631. Like Treuting, upholding this 1989 Tidelands legislation would in no way impede or diminish the public's right of navigation, swimming or fishing. Further, the Legislature and the Secretary of State are charged not only with maintaining title to trust properties in the State's name, but they have a higher duty. This duty being to continuously seek avenues for proper and effective management of the public trust so that there is a return to the public of use, environmental protection and advancement and, in the appropriate areas, a return of economic growth. To stagnantly hold tidelands is not always in the public's best interest, nor is it responsive to the public's trust. This suit is not an attempt by Byrd to lay claim to the water's edge, but is an attempt to ascertain definitive property lines to his property. As Justice Robertson stated in Cinque Bambini, [t]hough great public interests and neither insignificant nor illegitimate private interests are present and in conflict, this in the end is a title suit. 491 So.2d at 510. The same can be said about the present case. When public policy is cast away, all that is left is simply a title suit. In this instance the title suit effects every landowner abutting on tidelands and every inch of wetlands from Alabama to Louisiana. Chancellor Stewart's opinion concedes that drawing the preliminary map using the 1973 mean high water line may result in some incidental transfer of public trust property to private landowners. However, he writes that since the tidelands legislation was enacted to serve a higher purpose, i.e., defining the boundaries between public and private lands as well as stimulating the coast economy, any incidental transfer of land is permissible. In Cinque Bambini, we stated: Suffice it to say that the purposes of the trust have evolved with the needs and sensitivities of the people-and the capacity of the trust properties through proper stewardship to serve those needs. 491 So.2d at 512; See also Ryals v. Pigott, 580 So.2d 1140, 1150 (Miss. 1990). Public trust must not be equated to stagnation or nonuse but is indeed subject to our stewardship and may be used to meet changing needs.