32:1-35.85. Property; requirement for public use; acquisition; condemnation

Subsequent to and subject to the execution of the agreement or agreements authorized by sections 11 and 12 hereof for the projects and facilities and it the locations specified herein, if the port authority shall find it necessary, convenient or desirable to acquire from time to time any real property or any property other than real property including but not limited to contract rights and other tangible or intangible personal property, to 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 interest, by condemnation, including the exercise of the right of eminent domain under and pursuant to the provisions of the eminent domain procedure law of the State of New York in the case of property located in or having its situs in such state, or the "Eminent Domain Act," P.L.1971, c. 361 (C. 20:3-1 et seq.), in the case of property located in or having its situs in the State of New Jersey, or, at the option of the part 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, 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 acquisition of real property shall, for any of the purposes of this act, be applied also to the acquisition 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 acquisition of such other property. In the event that any property other than real property is acquired for any of the purposes of this act under this section 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.

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 personal property or mixed real and personal property or may be owned by more than one owner.

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, for from acquiring any such property by negotiation or purchase.

Where a person entitled to an award in the proceedings for the acquisition of property by condemnation or the right of eminent domain for any of the purposes of this act remains in possession of such property after the time of the vesting of title in the port authority, the reasonable value of this 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 port authority.

L.1978, c. 110, s. 14, eff. Aug. 24, 1978.