82a-209. Sale of land in abandoned channel of stream; survey; duties of secretary of state; appraisal. Whenever the channel, or any part thereof, of any navigable stream in or bordering upon the state of Kansas has previously been, or shall hereafter be, changed or altered by such stream establishing a new channel by flood or avulsion, so that any land situated between the banks of such stream at high-water mark shall be abandoned or no longer used as a channel for such stream and the title to such channel is not controlled by K.S.A. 24-454, and amendments thereto, or the provisions of article 2 of chapter 82a of the Kansas Statutes Annotated are not applicable, the Kansas secretary of state shall cause such land to be surveyed by a surveyor selected by the secretary of state, and may thereafter sell and convey the same, or any part thereof, by grant or patent, as hereinafter provided. Any such survey and appropriate field notes, maps, records or other papers relating to such survey shall be filed with the register of the state land office. A certified copy of such survey may be filed in the office of the register of deeds of the county within which the land is located. Such land, or any part thereof, may be conveyed to the Kansas department of wildlife, parks and tourism or may be sold at the best price obtainable to be agreed upon between the secretary of state, acting for and in behalf of the state of Kansas, and any person desiring to buy the same. In any case where any such land has been a part of the bed or channel of any navigable stream bordering on the state of Kansas and the survey establishes parts of such land lying between the Kansas bank of such stream at the high-water mark and the center of the main channel of such stream to be the property of this state which prior to the survey has been occupied and claimed by any person under any patent, conveyance or grant issued or made after April 1952, to such person from a bordering state or a political subdivision thereof, the secretary of state first shall offer such parts of such lands to such persons occupying and claiming the same as aforesaid at a price represented by the proportionate cost of such survey determined by applying the total cost of the survey to the total acreage of lands covered by said survey. Upon satisfactory proof made thereof, the secretary of state shall allow as a credit to such purchase price the actual cash paid for any such patent, conveyance or grant and the actual costs of any permanent improvements made to any such lands or parts thereof by the person occupying and claiming the same. Upon the refusal of any such offer to such person, the land may be sold by the secretary of state as herein provided.

If it is not possible for such prospective purchaser and the secretary of state to agree on a price, then the land shall be sold by the secretary of state as one tract, or in different tracts, as the secretary of state may determine, under an appraisement made by three disinterested persons residing in the county or counties where such abandoned channel sought to be sold is situated, which appraisers shall be appointed by the secretary of state. Such sale shall be for not less than three-fourths of the appraised value. In no case shall such land be sold for less than the cost of surveying, appraising and selling the same.

History: L. 1978, ch. 430, § 1; L. 1980, ch. 330, § 3; L. 1989, ch. 308, § 2; L. 2012, ch. 47, § 131; July 1.