In re P.T. Jibsail Fam. Ltd. Partnership Tidelands License No. 1515-06-0012.1 TDI 190001

New Jersey’s Tidelands Resource Council (TRC) was statutorily authorized to grant property rights or license construction on state-owned tidelands, meaning lands below the mean high-tide line of inland waters. The TRC’s statute mandated that licensing decisions be made in the public interest and after giving due regard to navigational needs. Janine Morris Trust (JMT) (plaintiff) and P.T. Jibsail Family Limited Partnership (Jibsail) (defendant) owned adjoining properties upland of Barnegat Bay’s high-tide line. JMT, which owned a TRC-licensed waterfront dock, strenuously opposed Jibsail’s 2017 application for its own waterfront-dock license. The TRC granted Jibsail’s application after finding that Jibsail’s proposed dock would serve the public interest without impeding navigation. In 2022, again over JMT’s strenuous opposition, the TRC granted Jibsail’s request for a license modification to slightly adjust the dock’s alignment. In addition to finding that the modification was in the public interest and would not impede navigation, the TRC gave JMT proper notice of Jibsail’s request and took into account all comments, testimony, and data bearing on Jibsail’s application. The TRC made detailed findings that Jibsail’s modified dock would neither infringe JMT’s license rights nor intersect at, or inshore of, any point on JMT’s established pierhead line. JMT appealed Jibsail’s license modification to the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division.