(a) Any landowner who desires that landowner's own lands to be included within a tax lagoon formed under this chapter may present a petition for an amendment to the existing lagoon order to include such lands to the Superior Court of the county which issued said lagoon order through the board of supervisors of the soil conservation district of the same county, and the procedure shall be substantially the same as the method in § 4385(3) of this title for amending a lagoon order, except that in addition to establishing an assessment base which will be the basis for all future lagoon taxes, for each parcel of land being included within the tax lagoon, a special assessment, based generally on the approximate total amount of taxes that would have been levied against such parcels of land since the tax lagoon was formed had such lands been within the original boundaries of said tax lagoon and other considerations, shall be determined by the board of lagoon commissioners and payment thereof prescribed in their report to the Superior Court.
(b) In those cases when any landowner, directly or indirectly, alters lands to utilize any part of a tax lagoon to benefit land which is not within the original boundary of the tax lagoon as established in the lagoon order and which was not assessed as part of the tax lagoon, or which was not assessed to the prong or part of the tax lagoon utilized by the alteration, and when the landowner or owners have not secured an amendment to the lagoon order in accordance with the procedure set forth in subsection (a) of this section, it shall be assumed that such landowner accepts the liability for payment of a special assessment and costs incurred in processing an amendment to the lagoon order, in addition to all future lagoon taxes, and it shall be the duty of the lagoon managers in the name of the tax lagoon to present a petition for an amendment to the existing lagoon order to include such lands, in the same manner as set forth in subsection (a) of this section, and the procedure shall be the same as outlined in that subsection, except that estimated costs of processing the amendment shall be added to the special assessment, which will be established by the board of lagoon management commissioners.
(c) In those cases when any landowner desires that landowner's own lands to be included within a tax lagoon and when agreement can be reached on the part of the landowner and the tax lagoon managers as to the special assessment to be paid and the assessment base to be established as the basis for all future lagoon taxes, then § 4385(1) or (2) of this title may be used to add the additional territory to the tax lagoon.
Structure Delaware Code
Chapter 43. DREDGING AND MANAGEMENT OF LAGOONS
Subchapter VI. General Provisions
§ 4381. Payment of damages and compensation.
§ 4382. Obstruction of or damage to tax lagoon; civil and criminal liability.
§ 4383. Right of entry upon lands.
§ 4384. Addition of territory to a tax lagoon.
§ 4385. Alteration of tax lagoons; amendments to lagoon orders.
§ 4386. Lagoons near highways.
§ 4387. Dissolution of tax lagoon.
§ 4388. Appropriations to Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.