Court Opinion

ID: 9845910
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:30:56.204239+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:16:26.200178
License: Public Domain

Judge MARTIN (Robert M.)
dissenting.
The majority contends that the sole purpose of N.C. Gen. Stat. § 113-229 is “the protection and preservation of the State’s natural resources, in particular, its estuarine resources.” This approach, however, overlooks the fact that the Legislature has granted the Department of Natural Resources and Community Development the authority to deny an application for a dredge or fill permit upon finding: "... (2) that there will be significant adverse effect on the value and enjoyment of the property of any riparian owners . . .” That the Legislature has empowered the Department to consider the effects of a project on a private property owner is further reinforced by § 113-229(d) which requires that “ . . . the applicant shall cause to be served . . . upon an *560owner of each tract of riparian property adjoining that of the applicant a copy of the application filed with the State of North Carolina and each such adjacent riparian owner shall have 30 days from the date of such service to file with the Department of Natural Resources and Community Development written objections to the granting of the permit to dredge or fill.” Thus the statutory pattern insures that adjacent riparian owners be given notice of a project and an opportunity to object and that significant adverse effect of a project on the value and enjoyment of any riparian owner’s property will be grounds for the denial of such a permit. Thus the Commission was acting within the statute when it considered the adverse effects of the project on four adjacent land owners.
While protection of ecological interests may be the primary aim of the statute, protection of private interests is well provided for. The statute does not require that the riparian owner’s value and enjoyment of the property be confined to its estuarine value and enjoyment or that his objections to a project be ecological in nature. Therefore, the Department is legitimately concerned with such objections and adverse effects as noise, parking, trespass and property values.
At the hearing before the Marine Fisheries Commission there was testimony by the adjacent owners which would support a finding that “the proposed project would . . . have a significant adverse effect on the value and enjoyment of the adjacent riparian owner, Ragamak [sic] Ltd.” According to § 113-229(g)(5), “The burden of proof at any hearing shall be upon the person or agency ... at whose instance the hearing is being held.” In this case, although applicant adduced testimony on the beneficial effects of the project as a whole, it did not meet its burden of proving that there will not be significant adverse effects on the value and enjoyment of the property of any riparian owners. In re Appeal of Seashell Co., 25 N.C. App. 470, 213 S.E. 2d 374 (1975).
I vote to affirm the judgment of the trial court.