32:3-13.12 - Supplemental compact authorized; additional powers and duties of commission
32:3-13.12. Supplemental compact authorized; additional powers and duties of commission The Governor is hereby authorized to enter into a supplemental compact or agreement, on behalf of the State of New Jersey, with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending and supplementing the compact or agreement between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey entitled "Agreement between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey creating the Delaware River Joint Commission as a body corporate and politic and defining its powers and duties," which was executed on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by its Governor on July first, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, and on behalf of the State of New Jersey by the New Jersey Interstate Bridge Commission by its members on July first, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, and which was consented to by the Congress of the United States by Public Resolution Number Twenty-six, being chapter two hundred fifty-eight of the Public Laws, Seventy-second Congress, approved June fourteenth, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-two, which supplemental compact and agreement shall be in substantially the following form:
"Supplemental agreement between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey amending and supplementing the agreement entitled "Agreement between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey creating the Delaware River Joint Commission as a body corporate and politic and defining its powers and duties,' authorizing and empowering the Delaware River Joint Commission to construct, finance, operate, maintain and own a vehicular tunnel under, or an additional bridge across, the Delaware river and defining certain functions, powers and duties of said commission.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey do hereby solemnly covenant and agree each with the other, as follows:
The "Agreement between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey creating the Delaware River Joint Commission as a body corporate and politic and defining its powers and duties,' which was executed on behalf of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by its Governor on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, and on behalf of the State of New Jersey by the New Jersey Interstate Bridge Commission by its members on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, and which was consented to by the Congress of the United States by Public Resolution Number Twenty-six, being chapter two hundred fifty-eight of the Public Laws, Seventy-second Congress, approved the fourteenth day of June, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-two, is amended and supplemented by adding thereto, as a part thereof, following Article XII thereof, a new article reading as follows:
ARTICLE XII-A
(1) In addition to other public purposes provided for it and other powers and duties conferred upon it, and not in limitation thereof, and notwithstanding the provisions of any other article hereof, the Delaware River Joint Commission by whatever name said commission may be designated, shall have among its authorized purposes, and it shall have the power and duty to effectuate, the construction, operation and maintenance of a bridge for vehicular traffic across the Delaware river, between a point or points within a one-mile radius of Morgan street and Broadway in the city of Camden, New Jersey, and a point or points within a one-mile radius of Oregon avenue and Swanson street in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with such approaches thereto and highway connections as may be necessary or desirable, or, in lieu of such bridge, a tunnel or tunnels for vehicular traffic under the Delaware river, between a point or points within a one-mile radius of Morgan street and Broadway in the city of Camden, New Jersey, and a point or points within a one-mile radius of Oregon avenue and Swanson street in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with such approaches thereto and highway connections as may be necessary or desirable.
(2) For the effectuation of any of its purposes authorized by this article, the commission is hereby granted, in addition to any other powers heretofore or hereafter granted to it, power and authority to acquire in its name by purchase or otherwise, on such terms and conditions and in such manner as it may deem proper, or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain any land and other property which it may determine is reasonably necessary for the bridge or tunnel referred to in this article or for the construction of such approaches thereto or highway connections as the commission shall deem necessary and any and all rights, title and interest in such land and other property, including public lands, parks, playgrounds, reservations, highways, or parkways, owned by or in which any county, city, borough, town, township, village, or other political subdivision of the State of New Jersey or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has any right, title or interest, or parts thereof or rights therein and any fee simple absolute or any lesser interest in private property, and any fee simple absolute in, easements upon, or the benefit of restrictions upon, abutting property to preserve and protect such bridge or tunnel, the approaches thereto or highway connections. Upon the exercise of the power of eminent domain under this paragraph, the compensation to be paid with regard to property located in the State of New Jersey shall be ascertained and paid in the manner provided in chapter one of Title 20 of the Revised Statutes of New Jersey in so far as the provisions thereof are applicable and not inconsistent with the provisions contained in this paragraph, and with regard to property located in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall be ascertained and paid in the manner provided by any applicable condemnation law in force in such Commonwealth. The commission may join in separate subdivisions in one petition or complaint the descriptions of any number of tracts or parcels of land or property to be condemned and the names of any number of owners and other parties who may have an interest therein and all such land or property included in said petition or complaint may be condemned in a single proceeding; provided, however, that separate awards shall be made for each tract or parcel of land or property; and provided further, that each of said tracts or parcels of land or property lies wholly in or has a substantial part of its value lying wholly within the same county.
(3) For the effectuation of any of its authorized purposes, the commission is hereby granted the following powers in addition to any other powers heretofore or hereafter granted to it:
(a) In connection with the borrowing of money upon its bonds or other obligations, to make, enter into and perform any and all such covenants and agreements with the holders of such bonds or other obligations as the commission may determine to be necessary or desirable for the security and payment thereof, including without limitation of the foregoing, covenants and agreements as to the management and operation of any property or facility owned or controlled by it, the tolls, rents, rates or other charges to be established, levied, made and collected for any use of any such property or facility, or the application, use and disposition of the proceeds of any bonds or other obligations of the commission or the proceeds of any such tolls, rents, rates or other charges or any other revenues or moneys of the commission.
(b) To pledge for the security or payment of any bonds or other obligations of the commission any moneys of the commission either presently received or in hand or to be received in the future, or both.
(c) To make expenditures anywhere in the United States and foreign countries, to pay commissions, and hire or contract with experts and consultants, and otherwise to do indirectly anything which the commission may do directly.
(d) To have and exercise such additional powers as may hereafter be delegated to or imposed upon it from time to time by act of the Legislature of either signatory State concurred in by act of the Legislature of the other.
(4) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this article, the commission shall not, in connection with the bridge or tunnel referred to in this article, construct any approach or highway connection in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania unless and until the Department of Highways of said Commonwealth shall have filed with the commission its written consent to such construction, and the commission shall not, in connection with said bridge or tunnel, construct any approach or highway connection in the State of New Jersey unless and until the State Highway Department of said State shall have filed with the commission its written consent to such construction. As used in this paragraph the term "approach" or "highway connection" means and includes any highway, road or structure for passage of vehicles, located inland of any of the established bulkhead lines of the Delaware river, including any highway, road or structure for passage of vehicles necessary to create access to the bridge or tunnel referred to in this article or to connect such bridge or tunnel with a highway system or other traffic facilities, or necessary to facilitate the flow of traffic in the vicinity of such bridge or tunnel.
(5) Before commencing construction of the bridge or tunnel referred to in this article, the commission shall set aside in a special reserve fund to be held by it the sum of twenty-two million dollars ($22,000,000.00) or such lesser sum as the Governors of the signatory States may in writing approve as sufficient for the purposes of this paragraph. The moneys in said special reserve fund may be expended and used by the commission for the construction, maintenance and operation of approaches and highway connections, and no moneys in said fund shall be applied to any purpose except (1) such construction, maintenance or operation, (2) temporary investment pending some other authorized application or (3) any other purpose authorized by the commission and approved in writing by the Governors of the signatory States. The Governors for the time being of the signatory States are authorized from time to time to make and sign any and all approvals contemplated by this paragraph and any such approvals so made and signed by both Governors shall be binding upon the signatory States and the said Governors and their successors, and shall not be revoked or amended except with the consent of the commission.
(6) Any pledge of tolls, rates, rents or revenues, or any part thereof, or of any moneys of the commission made or created by the commission pursuant to Article VIII or any other provision hereof shall be valid and binding from the time when the pledge is made; the revenues or other moneys so pledged and thereafter received by the commission shall immediately be subject to the lien of such pledge without any physical delivery thereof or further act; the lien of any such pledge shall be valid and binding as against all parties having claims of any kind in tort, contract or otherwise against the commission, irrespective of whether such parties have notice thereof; and neither the resolution nor any other instrument by which such a pledge is created need be filed or recorded except in the records of the commission.
(7) The effectuation of any of the purposes authorized by this article, and the exercise or performance by the commission of any of its powers or duties in connection with effectuation of such purpose, shall not be subject to any restrictions, limitations or provisions provided for or set forth in Article XII hereof. The bridge or tunnel referred to in this article may be constructed or erected by the commission notwithstanding the terms and provisions of any other agreement between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey. Except as may hereafter be otherwise provided in conformity with Article IX hereof with respect to specific properties designated by action of the Legislatures of both of the signatory States, no property or facility owned or controlled by the commission shall be acquired from it by any exercise of powers of condemnation or eminent domain.
(8) The commission shall not construct or erect the bridge or tunnel referred to in this article unless and until the Governor of the State of New Jersey and the Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania shall have filed with the commission their written consents to such construction or erection."
L.1951, c. 287, p. 1034, s. 1.