32:1-35.63. Property; public use; acquisition; condemnation

If the port authority shall find it necessary, convenient or desirable to acquire (either directly or through a subsidiary corporation) from time to time any real property or any property other than real property (including but not limited to contract rights and other intangible personal property and railroad cars or other rolling stock, maintenance and repair equipment and parts, fuel and other tangible personal property), for any of the purposes of this act whether for immediate or future use (including temporary construction, rehabilitation or improvement), the port authority may find and determine that such property, whether a fee simple absolute or a lesser interest, is required for a public use, and upon such determination the said property shall be and shall be deemed to be required for such public use until otherwise determined by the port authority, and such determination shall not be affected by the fact that such property has theretofore been taken for and is then devoted to a public use; but the public use in the hands of or under the control of the port authority shall be deemed superior to the public use in the hands of any other person, association or corporation.

The port authority may acquire and is hereby authorized so to acquire from time to time, for any of the purposes of this act, such property, whether a fee simple absolute or a lesser estate, by condemnation (including the exercise of the right of eminent domain) under and pursuant to the provisions of the condemnation law of the State of New York in the case of property located in or having its situs in such State, and Revised Statutes of New Jersey, Title 20:1-1 et seq., in the case of property located in or having its situs in such State, or, at the option of the port authority, as provided in section 15 of chapter 43 of the laws of New Jersey of 1947, as amended, in the case of property located in or having its situs in such State, and as provided in chapter 819 of the laws of New York of 1947 in the case of property located in or having its situs in such State, or pursuant to such other and alternate procedure as may be provided by law of the State in which such property is located or has its situs; and all of said statutes for the condemnation of real property shall, for any of the purposes of this act, be applied also to the condemnation of other property authorized by this section, except that such provisions as pertain to surveys, diagrams, maps, plans or profiles, assessed valuation, lis pendens, service of notice and papers, filing in the office of the clerk in which the real property affected is situated and such other provisions as by their nature cannot be applicable to property other than real property, shall not be applicable to the condemnation of such other property. In the event that any property other than real property is acquired by condemnation under this act then, with respect to such other property, notice of such proceeding and all subsequent notices or court processes shall be served upon the owners of such other property and upon the port authority by personal service or by registered or certified mail, except as may be otherwise directed by the court.

Anything herein to the contrary notwithstanding, any property to be acquired for any of the purposes of this act, which property shall not have been used by its owner or owners or any of his or their predecessors in connection with and shall not have been acquired by its owner or owners or any of his or their predecessors for use in connection with the effectuation by a railroad company or companies of the Hudson tubes or the Hudson tubes extensions prior to port authority acquisition, shall, if such property is personal property, be acquired only by agreement with the owner or owners and shall, if such property is not personal property and is to be acquired by condemnation, be acquired in an action or proceeding in the State in which such property is located or has its situs. Except as so provided, the port authority is hereby authorized and empowered, in its discretion, from time to time to combine any property which is to be acquired as aforesaid by condemnation for any of the purposes of this act for acquisition in a single action or proceeding notwithstanding that part of the property so to be acquired is located or has its situs in New Jersey and part in New York or is personal property or mixed real and personal property or may be owned by more than 1 owner; and, except as hereinafter provided, each such single action or proceeding to acquire property located or having its situs part in New Jersey and part in New York shall be pursuant to the laws of whichever of the 2 said States the port authority shall estimate contains the greater part in value of all the property to be acquired in such action or proceeding (hereinafter sometimes called the forum State) and in the court or courts specified in the laws of the forum State for the condemnation by the port authority of property located or having its situs in the forum State pursuant to this act, in which event, notwithstanding the location or situs of said property, each of said 2 States hereby confers upon its said court or courts jurisdiction of such action or proceeding and the port authority and any subsidiary corporation so acquiring such property and the owners of such property shall be bound by the judgments, orders or decrees therein. In any such action or proceeding the court or courts of the forum State shall apply the laws of valuation of the other State (hereinafter sometimes called the nonforum State) to the valuation of the property which is located or has its situs in the nonforum State and shall include in the total compensation to be made to any owner of property in both States being acquired in such action or proceeding the increment, if any, in the value of such property in both States, by reason of its being in a single ownership. If a judgment, order or decree in such an action or proceeding shall vest title in or otherwise award to the condemnor the right to possession of property located or having its situs in the nonforum State, then the court or courts of the nonforum State shall grant full faith and credit to such judgment, order or decree and upon petition by the condemnor to the court or courts of the nonforum State specified in the laws thereof for the condemnation by the port authority of property located or having its situs in the nonforum State pursuant to this act, presenting a true copy of such judgment, order or decree and proof that it is in effect, that any conditions thereof have been met, that at least 5 days' notice of such petition has been served by registered or certified mail upon all owners of the property affected who appeared in the original action or proceeding in the forum State or who may be owners of record, and without further proof, a judgment, order or decree of such court or courts of the nonforum State shall be entered granting condemnor possession of the property located or having its situs in the nonforum State and confirming any title which shall have vested in the condemnor by the judgment, order or decree of the court or courts of the forum State.

The owner of any property acquired by condemnation or the exercise of the right of eminent domain for any of the purposes of this act shall not be awarded for such property any increment above the just compensation required by the constitutions of the United States and of the State or States in which the property is located or has its situs by reason of any circumstances whatsoever.

Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the port authority from bringing any proceedings to remove a cloud on title or such other proceedings as it may, in its discretion, deem proper and necessary, or from acquiring any such property by negotiation or purchase.

Where a person entitled to an award in the proceedings to condemn any property for any of the purposes of this act remains in possession of such property after the time of the vesting of title in the condemnor, the reasonable value of his use and occupancy of such property subsequent to such time, as fixed by agreement or by the court in such proceedings or by any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be a lien against such award, subject only to liens of record at the time of the vesting of title in the condemnor.

L.1962, c. 8, s. 14.