Section 15-1711. Provisions and conditions of licenses; payment to state treasury of moneys received under this title  


Latest version.
  • 1. The term of the license shall not exceed fifty years from its date.
        2. The licensee shall agree to accept  and  abide  by  the  terms  and
      provisions  of  title  17  of  this article, and to pay to the state the
      charge or rental, if any, fixed by the department and  reserved  in  the
      license, or as the same may be readjusted pursuant to law.
        3.  The  license shall by reference to maps, plans, and specifications
      or otherwise clearly identify and define the improvement or  development
      to be affected under the license.
        4.  If  the license affects any canal or canal feeder waters, it shall
      contain a provision, in substance,  reserving  to  the  Commissioner  of
      Transportation the right at any and all times to enter upon the property
      covered  by  the  license,  and  to  do and perform such acts or things,
      including the temporary drawing off of the water from the dam or forebay
      from which the licensee is drawing water and such  interruption  in  the
      supply  of  water  to  the  licensee, as may be deemed necessary for the
      repair, reconstruction or improvement of the canal or any canal works or
      structures and that the licensee shall be at all times subject  to  such
      reasonable  rules  and regulations for the management and maintenance of
      the canals and navigation thereof as the Commissioner of  Transportation
      shall  from  time  to  time  prescribe;  also  a  provision in substance
      reserving to the department the right, on ninety days' written notice to
      the licensee, to retake, recapture and resume wholly or in part the  use
      of  the  water  and other property covered by the license, including all
      structures erected upon  and  improvements  to  such  property,  and  to
      control  and  limit  the manner and extent of use of such water or other
      property, whenever in the opinion of the Commissioner of  Transportation
      or  the  Legislature,  the  necessary supply of water for the use of the
      canals of the state, or any future alterations or  improvements  of  the
      canals,  or the safety of the works connected therewith, may render such
      resumption,  control  or  limitation  necessary;  also  a  provision  in
      substance  reserving to the state the right wholly to abandon or destroy
      the canal, dam or works by the erection or  construction  of  which  the
      surplus water covered by the license is rendered available. In either of
      which  events,  the  licensee,  if he promptly complies with any and all
      lawful directions of the department with respect to the cessation of the
      use of water and removal from the premises may recover from the state in
      the Court of Claims the damages resulting  to  him  therefrom,  but  the
      damages   for   improvements   on  state  lands  shall  not  exceed  the
      reconstruction cost. The damages for which the state shall be liable may
      be specified in the license. The state  shall  not  be  liable  for  any
      temporary  interruption  for  the  repair  of or in the operation of the
      canal, and in case of a substantial change in  the  right  or  privilege
      granted, the department, by agreement, may readjust the charge or rental
      with the licensee.
        5. The license shall contain a provision in substance that if there be
      a  partial  resumption  of  the use of the water or of the land which is
      covered by the license, the licensee, at his option,  may  continue  for
      the remainder of the term specified in the license to use the residue of
      the  water  and  land  covered  by  the  license,  under  the  terms and
      conditions of the license, or such modified terms as may be agreed upon,
      upon the payment to the state of a  revised  and  readjusted  charge  or
      rental,  and  that if the licensee refuses to accept or continue the use
      of the remaining water and land at the revised  and  readjusted  rental,
      the  license  shall  terminate and the licensee shall have his claim for
      damages as provided by the preceding subdivision.
    
        6. Except as otherwise provided by law, the terms and provisions of  a
      license  may  be altered only by mutual agreement between the department
      and the licensee, after publication as  provided  in  subdivision  1  of
      section  15-0903  of  a  notice  setting forth the time and place of the
      meeting  at  which the proposal to alter the terms and provisions of the
      license will be considered. If by any such agreement the amount of water
      available for use by the licensee is curtailed  or  the  privileges  and
      rights  under  the  license  are  materially changed, the department may
      revise and readjust the rental to be paid.
        7. The license may contain a provision to the effect that the licensee
      shall furnish to the state, free of charge or upon terms to be fixed  as
      therein provided, the hydraulic or hydro-electric power required for the
      operation  or  lighting  of  certain  defined state structures, works or
      property.
        8. The license may also contain a provision  in  substance,  that  the
      licensee shall obtain the fee simple absolute of, or any lesser interest
      in,  all  property  other  than  that  of  the  state used by him in the
      construction of the project.
        9. In issuing licenses for a minor part only of a complete project, or
      for a complete project of not more than one hundred horsepower capacity,
      the department may in its discretion waive such  conditions,  provisions
      and  requirements of title 17 of this article, except the license period
      of fifty years, as it may deem to be to the  public  interest  to  waive
      under the circumstances.
        10.  The  department  shall  pay  into  the  state treasury the moneys
      received by it in the course of administering the provisions of title 17
      of this article in the manner provided  by  section  121  of  the  State
      Finance Law.