§214.5.5. Private property and public rights

A. Recognizing that a substantial majority of the coastal lands in Louisiana are privately owned, it is anticipated that a significant portion of the integrated coastal protection projects funded through the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund either will occur on or in some manner affect private property.

B. No rights whatsoever shall be created in the public, whether such rights be in the nature of ownership, servitude, or use, with respect to any private lands or waters utilized, enhanced, created, or otherwise affected by activities of any governmental agency, local, state, or federal, or any person contracting with same for the performance of any activities, funded in whole or in part, by expenditures from the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund or expenditures of federal funds. In the event legal proceedings are instituted by any person seeking recognition of a right of ownership, servitude, or use in or over private property solely on the basis of the expenditure of funds from the Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund, the state shall indemnify and hold harmless the owner of such property for any cost, expense, or loss related to such proceeding, including court costs and attorney fees.

C. Notwithstanding any law or provision to the contrary, no full ownership interest in property shall be acquired for integrated coastal protection through any method by the state of Louisiana, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, a levee district, a levee authority, a sponsoring authority, a political subdivision, or any other state, local, or federal entity, or their agents or employees, including but not limited to compensatory mitigation and ecosystem restoration purposes, unless such interest is voluntarily offered and agreed to in writing by owners with at least seventy-five percent ownership in the property or such entity seeking to acquire the property proves by clear and convincing evidence in a court of competent jurisdiction that a full ownership interest is the minimum interest necessary to carry out the purposes of integrated coastal protection for the specific project for which it is acquired.

D. Access rights, rights of use, servitudes, easements, or other property interests acquired for integrated coastal protection through any method by the state of Louisiana, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, a levee district, a levee authority, a sponsoring authority, a political subdivision, or any other state, local, or federal entity, or their agents or employees, including but not limited to compensatory mitigation and ecosystem restoration purposes, shall be for a fixed term only and shall not be acquired in perpetuity unless such acquisition in perpetuity is voluntarily offered and agreed to in writing by owners with at least seventy-five percent ownership in the property. Furthermore, no fixed term for any access rights, rights of use, servitudes, easements, or other property interests acquired for integrated coastal protection shall exceed the life of the integrated coastal protection project for which it is acquired unless such term is voluntarily offered and agreed to in writing by owners with at least seventy-five percent ownership in the property.

E. The provisions of this Section shall not authorize acquisition of privately owned mineral interests and the reservation of mineral interests shall be as provided in R.S. 31:149. Additionally, any interest in property acquired under this Section shall not transfer to the acquiring entity any claims, causes of action, or litigious rights existing prior to the date of the acquisition but shall not extinguish the rights of the owners of the property to exercise such claims, causes of action, or litigious rights on the date of acquisition.

Acts 2009, No. 523, §3, eff. July 10, 2009; Acts 2017, No. 199, §1, eff. June 14, 2017.