## Facts

- New Jersey owns tidelands (lands below the mean high-tide line) and regulates their use through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the Tidelands Resource Council (TRC).
- By statute, TRC may issue tidelands licenses for structures on State-owned tidelands when doing so serves the public interest and gives due regard to navigational needs.
- Janine Morris Trust (JMT) and P.T. Jibsail Family Limited Partnership (Jibsail) owned adjoining upland properties along Barnegat Bay.
- JMT held a TRC-issued tidelands license for its own waterfront dock.
- Jibsail applied in 2017 for a tidelands license to extend and reconfigure its dock. JMT strongly objected during the licensing process.
- TRC granted Jibsail’s application, authorizing a 168-foot extension that resulted in an approximately 300-foot, dog-legged dock extending into Barnegat Bay; TRC found the project consistent with the public interest and not an impediment to waterway use.
- JMT did not file a timely appeal from the March 8, 2018 tidelands license issuance.
- After construction, the dock’s as-built location was found to differ slightly from the license plan—about a 1.7-foot offset.
- In 2022, Jibsail requested a tidelands license modification to adjust the license boundaries to match the as-built alignment, without materially changing the dock’s size or configuration.
- TRC provided notice to JMT, accepted and reviewed comments, testimony, and submitted materials, and issued detailed findings addressing spacing, the pierhead line, JMT’s asserted impacts, and waterway considerations.
- TRC approved the modification, finding (among other points) that the modified dock would not infringe JMT’s license rights and would not intersect, at or inshore of any point, JMT’s established pierhead line.
- NJDEP’s Assistant Commissioner issued a final agency decision on October 6, 2022 upholding TRC’s approval of the modification.
- JMT appealed the October 6, 2022 final decision to the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, and attempted to use the modification appeal to also attack the legality of the earlier, unappealed 2017–2018 licensing action.

## Issues

1. Whether JMT could challenge the merits and legality of the original 2017–2018 tidelands license through an appeal from the 2022 minor modification decision.
2. Whether TRC acted within its statutory authority, including under N.J.S.A. 12:3-19, in issuing and modifying the license and in addressing pierhead or “exterior line” limits through an individual licensing action.
3. Whether NJDEP/TRC’s approval of the modification was arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, or contrary to law given the record findings on public interest and waterway impacts.
4. Whether the modified license boundaries unlawfully interfered with or infringed JMT’s existing tidelands license rights or pierhead line.
5. Whether TRC provided adequate notice and a fair opportunity for JMT to present objections, and whether the agency sufficiently addressed material contentions in its findings.

## Decision

- The Appellate Division affirmed NJDEP’s October 6, 2022 final decision approving TRC’s modification of Jibsail’s tidelands license.
- The court rejected JMT’s effort to use the modification appeal as a vehicle to undo the earlier, unappealed licensing decision; the court limited its review to the modification action and related, properly presented claims.
- The court upheld TRC’s determination that the requested change was minor (about a 1.7-foot adjustment) and did not materially change the approved structure.
- The court accepted TRC’s detailed findings that the modified dock would not infringe JMT’s license rights and would not intersect JMT’s established pierhead line at, or inshore of, any point.
- The court upheld TRC’s authority to manage State-owned tidelands and rejected JMT’s claim that TRC lacked authority to address pierhead/exterior-line questions through an individual licensing decision.
- The court found the administrative process provided JMT notice, an opportunity to be heard, and consideration of its submissions, and that the agency’s decision was supported by the record.

## Legal Principles

- Review of NJDEP/TRC tidelands determinations is highly deferential; a court will uphold agency action unless it is arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, or inconsistent with law.
- Tidelands are State-owned lands below the mean high-tide line; the State, acting through NJDEP/TRC, controls whether private parties may occupy those lands for structures.
- A tidelands license grants a limited right to use only the defined “license box” shown on the plan, not broader exclusionary rights to surrounding waters; a tidelands grant, by contrast, conveys fee simple property rights.
- A neighboring tidelands licensee generally cannot block the State from licensing adjacent tidelands to another applicant based solely on the neighbor’s license status outside the neighbor’s own license boundaries.
- A party may not revive an untimely challenge to a final agency licensing decision by appealing a later, limited modification; the scope of judicial review in such circumstances is confined to the modification decision and properly related issues.
- TRC may approve a minor license modification that aligns the licensed area with an as-built condition when the agency finds the change serves the public interest and accounts for waterway needs, and when findings show no improper intrusion into another licensee’s rights or pierhead line.
- Procedural fairness is satisfied when affected parties receive notice, can submit objections and materials, and the agency issues reasoned findings that respond to significant claims.

## Conclusion

The Appellate Division upheld NJDEP/TRC’s approval of a slight (about 1.7-foot) modification to Jibsail’s tidelands license for a Barnegat Bay dock, sustained TRC’s statutory authority to manage State-owned tidelands (including pierhead/exterior-line issues handled through individual licensing actions), and declined to permit JMT to convert the modification appeal into a late challenge to the original 2017–2018 license.


In re P.T. Jibsail Fam. Ltd. Partnership Tidelands License No. 1515-06-0012.1 TDI 190001, Docket A-0699-22 (2024)