Sec. 5-26. - Approval prerequisite to issuance of building permit.
Sec. 5-27. - License required—Generally.
Sec. 5-26. - Approval prerequisite to issuance of building permit.
Whenever any person or persons shall intend to erect or construct any building or other structure, or to alter or repair any building or other structure already erected, on ground supported by bulkheads, or on ground [in] back of any water front or bulkhead, to be physically connected, or already physically connected with, or to be used or already used, as appurtenant to, any wharf, or harbor structure, situate within the city, and for such purpose shall have applied for a permit from the building inspector in said city, the said building inspector shall notify the board of harbor commissioners of such application, and shall thereafter grant the permit applied for, only after the application shall have received the approval of the board of harbor commissioners.
(32 Del. L. ch. 112, § 16)
Editor's note—
Section A-101 of the Charter transfers the functions of the board of harbor commissioners and the building inspector to the department of commerce and the department of licenses and inspections, respectively.
Sec. 5-27. - License required—Generally.
Whenever any person or persons shall desire to construct, extend, alter, improve or repair any wharf or other building in the nature of a wharf, pier or other harbor structure, situate within the city, such person or persons shall make application to the board of harbor commissioners, in writing, stating the nature and extent of such proposed structure, extension, alteration, improvement or repairs, and file in the office of the said board, the plans and specifications showing fully the proposed structure, extension, alteration, improvement or repair, and produce satisfactory evidence of title to the premises on which such proposed structure, extension, alteration, improve- ment or repair is to be erected or made. If such proposed structure, extension, alteration, improvement or repair, in the opinion of the said board, will encroach upon the waterway, the board shall give notice of a public hearing thereon, and the time and place of hearing such application, to all parties interested, by advertising such hearing twice a week for two successive weeks, in two newspapers of general circulation published within the said city, and by posting notice upon the said premises. If the board, upon such hearing, or without such hearing, where such hearing is not required by the provisions hereof, shall approve such proposed structure, extension, alteration, improvement or repair, and the plans and specifications submitted therefor, the board shall give its assent thereto, and issue a license or permit therefor, and cause the fact of the issue of such license or permit to be recorded in the office of the board in a book to be kept for that purpose. Provided, however, that necessary repairs, costing one hundred dollars or less, and not affecting the stability or strength of the structure, may be made without first procuring said license or permit.
(32 Del. L. ch. 112, § 15)
In all cases where any license or permit has been given by the said board of harbor commissioners, permitting the erection, construction, extension, alteration, improvement or repair of any wharf, pier, bulkhead, building, or other harbor structure, within the limits of the said city, the person or persons, to whom such license or permit has been granted, shall, within six months from the date of said license or permit, commence the work for which such license or permit shall have been granted, and shall prosecute such work with due diligence to completion, otherwise said license or permit shall become void. Provided, however, that all licenses or permits granted for the erection, extension, alteration, repair or improvement as aforesaid, prior to the passage of this article, shall become void within six months after this article shall take effect, unless said work shall have been begun thereon and shall be prosecuted with due diligence to completion.
(32 Del. L. ch. 112, § 17)
Any person, who shall at any time, erect, place, or extend, any wharf, pier, bulkhead, or other structure, within the limits of the city, extending into the tideway of any of the rivers within said city limits, without first having obtained therefor, a license from the board of harbor commissioners, as herein provided, shall be guilty of maintaining a public nuisance, and said wharf, pier, bulkhead or other structure, shall be deemed a public nuisance, and said person, upon conviction therefor, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars or more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for the term of six months, or both, in the discretion of the court; and said court, if such public nuisance shall not then have been abated, shall order the sheriff of New Castle County forthwith to abate the same under the direction of the board of harbor commissioners of the city, and shall issue to said sheriff the writ of said court commanding him to levy and make of the goods and chattels, lands and tenements of the defendant, the costs and expense of such abatement by said sheriff; and all the lands and tenements of the defendants, within the county, shall be bound for the amount of said costs and expense, from the time of the issuance of said writ; such writ shall be executed upon either the real or personal property of the defendant, or both, and returned on the first day of the next term of said court, the sheriff giving ten days' notice, in a daily newspaper, published in the city, of the sale of the property levied on, by an advertisement describing the property to be sold, and appointing the day, hour and place of sale thereof. The sale of any lands and tenements under such writ shall be subject to the confirmation of said court, and upon confirmation thereof, said court shall order the execution of a deed or deeds to the purchaser or purchasers, conveying to him, her or them, the lands and tenements so sold. Such conveyance shall have the same operation, and vest the same title, as a deed by the sheriff of lands and tenements sold under a writ of venditioni exponas. If such sale of real estate shall not be confirmed, said court may issue further orders of sale thereof, to be executed in like manner. The purchase money of real estate so sold shall not be applied to the payment of such costs or expense of abatement, but shall be held by the sheriff, subject to the order of said court, until confirmation of the sale. Provided, however, that nothing in this section contained, shall be construed to limit or qualify the power of the chancellor to restrain by injunction, the erecting, placing, or maintaining [of] any wharf, platform, pier, bulkhead, or other structure or obstruction, or any culvert, or sluiceway, contrary to any of the provisions of this article. And provided further, that said board of harbor commissioners shall have full power and authority, forthwith, to abate and remove any wreck, bar, rock, abandoned material or property, or other accidental obstruction in said rivers, or any of them, within the limits aforesaid, which shall, in the opinion of said board, be dangerous to navigation; and provided further, that the chancellor shall have power to restrain, by injunction, any improper exercise by said board of harbor commissioners of the summary power of removal or abatement hereinabove conferred upon said board. The said board of harbor commissioners shall have power, for the purpose of defraying the costs and expenses of such abatement or removal to sell the property or material so removed, at public sale, first giving ten days' notice thereof in a daily newspaper published in the city, by advertisement describing the property to be sold and appointing the day, hour and place of sale thereof; the balance, if any, of the proceeds of said sale, after defraying such costs and expense, together with costs of sale, shall be paid to the owner or owners of such property or material, or, in case such owner or owners be unknown to said board of harbor commissioners, shall be deposited in any approved depository of the city, to the credit and subject to the order of the court. The said board of harbor commissioners shall also have power to recover the amount of the costs and expense of such abatement or removal, or any part thereof, in an action of debt, to be brought by said board, in the name of the city, against the owner or owners of the property or material so abated or removed, or the person or persons who shall have caused or maintained the nuisance so abated or removed.
(32 Del. L. ch. 112, § 18)
The breadth of water front appertaining to the land of each proprietor, or owners, on the banks, or shores, of said rivers, within the limits aforesaid, shall be determined by protracting the lines of such land to the line established by laws as the limit to which wharves or other structures may be built, whenever such protraction of said lines will not result in giving to the said owner more, or to any other riparian owner, less, than his proportionate share of frontage on said wharf line. But in case of conflict between riparian owners arising from the divergence or convergence of the lines of their lands, or the lines of any public street or any lands owned by the city, when the same shall be protracted as aforesaid, the said board of harbor commissioners is authorized and empowered to settle and determine the lines and bounds of said owners respectively on said wharf lines; and the said board of harbor commissioners shall thereupon make report in writing of their determination in the premises, with a plot of the lines and frontage so established by them, and file such report and plot in the office of the recorder, and retain a copy thereof, as a part of the records of their office. A certified copy of said plot shall be competent evidence for all purposes.
(32 Del. L. ch. 112, § 20; 37 Del. L. ch. 142, § 1)