Chapter 458. Relative to the control of wharf property and certain public spaces in the District of Columbia
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CHAP. 458.— An Act Relative to the control of wharf property and certain public spaces in the District of Columbia. March 3, 1899. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, * That, with the exceptions hereinafterDistrict of Columbia.Commissioners to have control of wharf property. provided, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall have the exclusive charge and control of all wharf property belonging 1378 FIFTY-FIFTH CONGRESS.
Sess. III. Ch. 458. 1899. to the United States or to the District of Columbia within said District, including all the wharves, piers, bulkheads, and structures thereon and waters adjacent thereto within the pier lines, and all slips, basins, docks, water fronts, land under water, and structures thereon, and the appurtenances, easements, uses, reversions, and rights belonging thereto, which are now owned or possessed by the United States or the District of Columbia, or to which they or either of them is or may become entitled, or which they or either of them may acquire under the provisions hereof or otherwise; and said Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall have exclusive charge and control of the repairing, building, rebuilding, maintaining, altering, strengthening, leasing, and protecting said property and every part thereof, and all the cleaning, dredging, and deepening necessary in and about the same within the Regulations.pier lines.
Said Commissioners are also hereby authorized and empowered to make all needful rules and regulations for the government and control of all wharves, piers, bulkheads, and structures thereon, and waters adjacent thereto within the pier lines, and all the basins, slips, and docks, with the land under water, in said District not owned by *Proviso.*Property controlled by Chief of Engineers.the United States or the District of Columbia: *Provided,* The the following described property shall be placed under the immediate jurisdiction and control of the Chief of Engineers of the United States:
The banks of the Potomac River from the north line of the Arsenal Grounds to the southern curb line of N street south; also five hundred linear feet of shore line in the Flushing Reservoir at the foot of Seventeenth street, west, and west from the western curb of said street, including a levee one hundred feet wide. Sec. 2. Regulations. That said Commissioners and the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army are hereby authorized and empowered to make all needful rules and regulations for the government and proper care of all the property placed in their charge and under their respective control by the provisions of section one of this Act and to annex such reasonable penalties to said rules and regulations as will secure their enforcement; and also to make and enforce rules and regulations in regard to building and repairing wharves, the rental thereof, and the rate of wharfage.
All rents so collected shall be covered into the Treasury of the United States, one-half to be placed to the credit of the United Leases.States and one half lo the credit of the District of Columbia. No lease made under the provisions of this Act shall extend beyond the period of ten years. Testing grounds in Potomac Park for Department of Agriculture.That the Secretary of War is authorized to grant permission to the Department of Agriculture for the temporary occupation of such area or areas of Potomac Park, not exceeding a total of seventy-five acres in extent, as may not be needed in any one season for the reclamation or park improvement, the said areas to be used by the Department of *Proviso.*Character of land not to be changed, etc.Vol. 29, p. 624.Agriculture as testing grounds: *Provided,* That nothing herein contained shall be construed to change the essential character of the lands so used, which lands shall continue to be a public park, as provided in the Act of Congress approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven: *And provided further,* That said area or areas shall be vacated by the Department of Agriculture at the close of any season Park to be under control of Secretary of War.upon the request of the Secretary of War: *And provided further,* That the entire park shall remain under the charge of the Secretary of War.
Removal of Botanical Garden fence.That on or before January first, nineteen hundred and three, the *Proviso.*—of Botanical Garden.fence around the Botanical Garden shall be removed: *Provided,* That at the first session of the Fifty-sixth Congress the Joint Committee on Library is directed to report a bill embodying a plan for removing the Botanical Garden to another location. Sec. 3. Harbor lines. That the harbor lines of the District of Columbia shall be determined by the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, and the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, subject to the approval of the Secretary of War.
Approved, March 3, 1899.