When private leaseholds granted by the Commission or its predecessors appear within the Baylor Survey continuing pursuant to § 28.2-551 or as reestablished pursuant to § 28.2-553, if it shall be established to the satisfaction of the Commission, by petition duly filed prior to January 1, 2015, that the present or former leaseholders or their predecessors in title were granted the leaseholds within the area shown on "Atlantic Coast Chart No. 25" of the "Public Oyster Grounds, State of Virginia, 1895" in good faith more than five years previously and have made substantial improvements in such leasehold bottoms since that time, the Commission shall reestablish the lines of the Baylor Survey along the survey lines between the private leaseholds previously approved. Any notice to vacate such leaseholds shall be of no effect.
In reestablishing Baylor Survey lines pursuant to this section, the Commission may adjust the boundaries to facilitate ease of protection for the public grounds, provided that such adjustment shall neither reduce nor enlarge the area of public grounds, nor materially reduce or increase the value of the private grounds whose boundaries are being adjusted.
2014, c. 138.