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<section article="gnr" article_name="Natural Resources" number="8-204" title_number="8" title_name="Waters" subtitle_number="2" subtitle_name="Conservation and Management of State Waters -- in General">
  <level label="a">
    <text>The Department is the unit of State government that coordinates public access to the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <text>The Department shall:</text>
    <level label="1">
      <text>Identify and designate areas for public access to the waters of the State in each county that is located on the tidal waters of the State;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>Coordinate with local and State agencies responsible for planning, purchasing, developing, and maintaining access areas;</text>
    </level>
    <level label="3">
      <text>Make recommendations to guide public agencies in the identification, development, and management of access areas; and</text>
    </level>
    <level label="4">
      <text>Serve as a repository for all information and inventories concerning shorefront access.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <level label="1">
      <text>This section may not be construed to expand the authority that the Department has on July 1, 1988, to require or promote condemnation of real property along the Big Blackwater River and the Little Blackwater River.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The State may not acquire by eminent domain real property along the Big Blackwater River or the Little Blackwater River without first proving that the acquisition is necessary to preserve the natural qualities and unpolluted state of the Big Blackwater River and the Little Blackwater River.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
