(70 ILCS 1230/2) (from Ch. 105, par. 94)
Sec. 2.
In all cases in which said board of park commissioners shall have
acquired or contracted to acquire the riparian rights of the owners of any
lands along the shore adjoining such public waters or rivers, or have
acquired or contracted to acquire lands owned or claimed by such owners,
and have agreed upon the dividing line aforesaid, such board of park
commissioners shall file petitions or complaints in
the circuit court of the county in which such lands are
situated, praying that the boundary line between the lands acquired or to
be acquired by the defendants in such suit and the lands acquired or to be
acquired by such board of park commissioners under this Act and under
such contracts, may be established and confirmed by the judgment of such
court, as agreed upon by such parties, to which complaints or petitions all
persons interested in such riparian rights and lands as owners or otherwise
as appearing of record, if known, or if not known, stating that fact, shall
be made defendants. Persons interested whose names are unknown, may be made
parties defendants by the description of the unknown owners; but in all
such cases, an affidavit shall be filed by or on behalf of the petitioner
or plaintiff, setting forth that the names of such persons are unknown;
such board of park commissioners shall also give public notice of the
filing of each such complaint or petition by publication thereof once a
week for 3 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation
regularly published in the city in which or nearest to which such riparian
rights or lands are situated, which notice shall contain the title of the
suit and the designation of a return day at which the defendants are to
appear, the last of which notices shall be published not less than 10
days or more than 20 days before the day so designated for
appearance. The defendants who do not enter their appearance shall be
served with process in the suits so instituted in the same manner as in
other civil suits, and the proceedings in such cause shall be conducted in
the same manner as in other civil suits. Any legal voter or taxpayer within
the district or territory in which the property shall be taxable for the
maintenance of the park system under the control of such board of park
commissioners, shall be permitted to enter his appearance and become a
party defendant in the proceedings and may answer or may file any
appropriate motion as in other civil cases. If, upon a hearing, the court
shall find that the rights and interests of the public have been duly
conserved in and by such an agreement, then the court shall confirm such
agreement and establish such boundary line; otherwise, the court shall, in
its discretion, dismiss such complaint or petition. If the dividing line
agreed upon shall be so established and confirmed by the judgment
of the court, it shall thereafter be the permanent dividing and
boundary line of such lands, and shall not be affected or changed
thereafter, either by accretions or erosions; and the owners of such short
lands are hereby granted by the State of Illinois, the title to the
adjacent, adjoining, submerged, penetrating and other lands, whether of
natural or artificial formation, lying upon the inner or land side of said
boundary line when so established, and they shall have the right to fill
in, improve, protect, use for all lawful purposes, sell and convey the
submerged or other lands up to the line so established, free from any
adverse claim in any way arising out of any question as to where the shore
line was at any time in the past, or as to the title to any existing
accretions, and the board of park commissioners is hereby granted by the
State of Illinois, the title for park purposes to the adjacent, adjoining,
submerged, penetrating, artificially made and other lands lying upon the
outer or water side of the boundary line and opposite and adjoining to
the lands granted and confirmed by such judgment to such riparian, shore or
other owners. It shall be the duty of the Attorney General to appear in
such proceedings and assert the claim of the State of Illinois, if any, as
to any lands involved in such proceeding, which have been improperly taken,
made or occupied, and the court shall proceed to hear and determine such
claim in the proceeding. If it shall be found that any land has been
wrongfully taken, made or occupied to which the State of Illinois can
assert title, it shall be the duty of the court to enter a judgment
requiring proper compensation to be made by the person or persons or
corporation taking, making or occupying such lands, or in lieu thereof to
vacate the same, and such compensation and the claim of the Attorney
General shall be determined before any such agreement between any park
board and the alleged owners of such lands shall in any way become
effective. The Attorney General shall have the right, upon behalf of the
State with the approval of the court, to compromise any claim which the
State of Illinois may assert upon such terms as shall be just and equitable
to the State of Illinois. The court shall require notice of the pendency of
such proceeding to be given to the Attorney General, and before any judgment
shall be entered in such proceeding, proof shall be made that such notice
has been given.
(Source: P.A. 79-1366.)
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