In the event an applicant for a grant or lease of riparian lands cannot comply with the provisions of Revised Statutes 12:3-7 or Revised Statutes 12:3-23, requiring 6 months notice to the riparian or shore owner of an application for a grant or lease because of the applicant's inability to determine the location of the present or former mean high water line, such applicant shall file with the Department of Conservation and Economic Development a notice of his intention to apply for a riparian grant or lease, describing therein the lands desired, together with an affidavit of an engineer or surveyor licensed in this State, setting forth the reasons why the location of the mean high water line cannot be determined, and requesting permission of the Commissioner of the Department of Conservation and Economic Development to publish the notice of intention to make an application in form prescribed by the commissioner once a month for 6 successive months, prior to the filing of the application, in a newspaper published and circulated in the county or counties wherein the lands are situate. Upon receipt of such notice of intention the commissioner shall investigate the facts set forth therein and may grant the requested permission for publication; and may also, as a condition thereof, require such additional notice as he shall deem appropriate to inform adjacent property owners of the applicant's intention to seek a riparian grant or lease.
Upon the execution of the grant or lease after the notice as provided herein, all privileges or claims of pre-emption of riparian owners to the lands therein described shall forever cease and terminate.
N.J.S. § 12:3-7.1