## Facts

- Commander Oil Corp. owned and operated a petroleum storage terminal on upland adjacent to Oyster Bay Harbor and used a pier and adjacent basins for barge deliveries.
- The Town of Oyster Bay owned the underwater lands in the harbor, including the bed underlying the basins beside Commander’s pier.
- Commander constructed the pier and basins area in the 1950s and historically maintained water depth for barge access.
- Silt accumulated over time in the basins due to natural processes and runoff, including contributions from municipal and state storm-water systems.
- In the 1960s, Commander dredged the basins with the Town’s permission under a lease (1960–1985) and with federal permits that disclaimed any conveyance of property rights.
- After the lease expired in 1985, Commander did not dredge for roughly a decade; by the mid-1990s parts of the east basin became extremely shallow, though barge traffic continued.
- Commander later obtained state and federal dredging permits conditioned on obtaining the Town’s permission, but Commander did not secure that permission.
- The Town sued to enjoin Commander from dredging the Town-owned underwater lands.

## Issues

1. Whether a riparian (littoral) owner’s right of reasonable access to navigable waters includes a right to perform maintenance dredging on publicly owned underwater lands.
2. If such a right exists, what standard governs when dredging may proceed against the submerged-land owner’s objection.
3. Whether a permanent injunction was proper without findings on necessity for access and interference with the submerged-land owner’s rights.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division’s order granting a permanent injunction against dredging.
- The court held that a riparian owner may conduct maintenance dredging if it is necessary to preserve reasonable access to navigable water and does not unreasonably interfere with the submerged-land owner’s rights.
- The case was remitted to the trial court to apply this two-part standard to the facts and determine whether Commander’s proposed dredging was permissible.

## Legal Principles

- Riparian/littoral owners hold a property right of reasonable access to navigable waters, but that right is limited and does not include ownership of the submerged soil.
- Public or municipal ownership of underwater lands does not create an absolute bar to dredging by an adjacent riparian owner.
- Maintenance dredging may fall within the riparian right of access only when:
  - dredging is necessary to preserve reasonable access to navigable waters; and
  - dredging does not unreasonably interfere with the submerged-land owner’s proprietary interests and related public interests.
- Courts must apply a fact-specific balancing inquiry; neither causation of siltation nor submerged-land ownership alone resolves the dispute.

## Conclusion

The court held that an upland owner’s riparian right of reasonable access can include maintenance dredging of publicly owned underwater lands, but only upon proof that dredging is necessary for reasonable access and that it will not unreasonably interfere with the submerged-land owner’s rights; because the lower courts did not apply this standard, the injunction was reversed and the matter remitted for further proceedings.


Town of Oyster Bay v. Commander Oil Corp., 759 N.E.2d 1233 (N.Y. 2001)