347 - Property for state thruways, bridges thereon, and other thruway uses and purposes to be acquired by appropriation.
§ 347. Property for state thruways, bridges thereon, and other thruway uses and purposes to be acquired by appropriation. 1. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of this chapter or any other law, general or special, any and all property necessary for the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of state thruways and bridges thereon, shall be acquired pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law. 2. The commissioner of transportation, for the people of the state of New York, shall acquire pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law any property or interest therein, necessary for any and all purposes connected with the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of the thruway system of the state of New York, including the acquisition of property for drains, ditches, spoil banks, gravel pits, stone quarries; also for the removal of obstructions, improvement of sight distances; also for acquisition of property for the reconstruction of existing highway-railroad separation structures upon incorporation into a state thruway of an existing highway or portion thereof of which they form a part, and for the separation of thruway-railroad grades on newly laid-out thruways; and for other purposes to improve safety conditions on the thruway routes. 3. The commissioner of transportation shall cause to be prepared an accurate acquisition map of any property which he may deem necessary for purposes connected with such thruway projects or of any property in and to which he may deem the acquisition or exercise of an easement, interest or right to be necessary for such purposes, indicating and describing in each case the particular easement, interest or right. On the approval of such acquisition map by the commissioner of transportation, he shall acquire such property, easements, interests or rights pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law. 4. If the commissioner shall determine, prior to the filing of such copy of the acquisition map in the office of the county clerk as aforesaid, that changes, alterations or modifications of such description and map as filed in the main office of the New York state thruway authority should be made, he or she shall, subject to the provisions in article two of the eminent domain procedure law if applicable, direct the preparation of an amended acquisition map, either by preparing a new map or by making changes on the original tracing of such map, with a notation indicating such changes. On the approval of such amended map by the commissioner, it shall be filed in the main office of the New York state thruway authority in the same manner as the original map was filed and the amended map shall thereupon in all respects and for all purposes supersede the map previously filed. 5. If the commissioner shall determine prior to filing a copy of the map in the office of the county clerk or register as provided in section four hundred two of the eminent domain procedure law, that such map should be withdrawn, he or she shall file a certificate of withdrawal in the offices of the New York state thruway authority and department of law. Upon the filing of such certificate of withdrawal, the map to which it refers shall be cancelled and all rights thereunder shall cease and determine. 6. The commissioner of transportation shall deliver to the attorney general a copy of such acquisition map whereupon it shall be the duty of the attorney general to advise and certify to the commissioner of transportation the names of the owners of the property, easements, interests or rights described in the said acquisition map, including the owners of any right, title or interest therein pursuant to the requirements of section four hundred three of the eminent domain procedure law.7. If, at or after the vesting of title to such property in the people of the state of New York in the manner provided in the eminent domain procedure law, the commissioner of transportation, or such duly authorized representative or agency which has succeeded him in the jurisdiction of the property so acquired, shall deem it necessary to cause the removal of an owner or other occupant from such property, he may cause such owner or other occupant to be removed therefrom by proceeding in accordance with section four hundred five of such law. The proceedings shall in all instances be brought in the name of the commissioner of transportation as agent of the state. If any person proceeded against shall contest the petition by an answer raising any material issue, the attorney general shall be notified, and he thereafter shall represent the petitioner in the proceedings. No execution shall issue for costs, if any, awarded against the state or the commissioner of transportation, but they shall be part of the costs of the acquisition and be paid in like manner. Proceedings may be brought separately against one or more of the owners or other occupants of a property, or one proceeding may be brought against all or several of the owners or other occupants of any or all property within the territorial jurisdiction of the same justice or judge; judgment shall effect or be made for immediate removal of persons defaulting in appearance or in answering, or withdrawing their answers, if any, without awaiting the trial or decision of issues raised by contestants, if any. 9. The commissioner of transportation upon making any agreement provided for in section three hundred four of the eminent domain procedure law shall deliver to the comptroller such agreement and a certificate stating the amount due such owner or owners thereunder on account of such appropriation of his or their property and the amount so fixed shall be paid out of the state treasury from moneys appropriated for the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of state thruways and bridges thereon, but not until there shall have been filed with the comptroller a certificate of the attorney general showing the person or persons claiming the amount so agreed upon to be legally entitled thereto. 10. Application for reimbursement of incidental expenses as provided in section seven hundred two of the eminent domain procedure law shall be made to the commissioner upon forms prescribed by him and shall be accompanied by such information and evidence as the commissioner may require. Upon approval of such application, the commissioner shall deliver a copy thereof to the comptroller together with a certificate stating the amount due thereof, and the amount so fixed shall be paid out of the state treasury after audit by the comptroller from monies appropriated for the acquisition of property under this section. 11. The commissioner of transportation, with the approval of the director of the budget, shall establish and may from time to time amend rules and regulations authorizing the payment of actual reasonable and necessary moving expenses of occupants of property acquired pursuant to this section; of actual direct losses of tangible personal property as a result of moving or discontinuing a business or farm operation, but not exceeding an amount equal to the reasonable expenses that would have been required to relocate such property, as determined by the commissioner; and actual reasonable expenses in searching for a replacement business or farm; or in hardship cases for the advance payment of such expenses and losses. For the purposes of making payment of such expenses and losses only the term "business" means any lawful activity conducted primarily for assisting in the purchase, sale, resale, manufacture, processing or marketing of products, commodities,personal property or services by the erection and maintenance of an outdoor advertising display or displays, whether or not such display or displays are located on the premises on which any of the above activities are conducted. Such rules and regulations may further define the terms used in this subdivision. In lieu of such actual reasonable and necessary moving expenses, any such displaced owner or tenant of residential property may elect to accept a moving expense allowance, plus a dislocation allowance, determined in accordance with a schedule prepared by the commissioner and made a part of such rules and regulations. In lieu of such actual reasonable and necessary moving expenses, any such displaced owner or tenant of commercial property who relocates or discontinues his business or farm operation may elect to accept a fixed relocation payment in an amount equal to the average annual net earnings of the business or farm operation, except that such payment shall be not less than two thousand five hundred dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars. In the case of a business, no such fixed relocation payment shall be made unless the commissioner finds and determines that the business cannot be relocated without a substantial loss of its existing patronage, and that the business is not part of a commercial enterprise having at least one other establishment, which is not being acquired by the state or the United States, which is engaged in the same or similar business. In the case of a business which is to be discontinued but for which the findings and determinations set forth above cannot be made, the commissioner may prepare an estimate of what the actual reasonable and necessary moving expenses, exclusive of any storage charges, would be if the business were to be relocated and enter into an agreed settlement with the owner of such business for an amount not to exceed such estimate in lieu of such actual reasonable and necessary moving expenses. Application for payment under this subdivision shall be made to the commissioner upon forms prescribed by him and shall be accompanied by such information and evidence as the commissioner may require. Upon approval of such application, the commissioner shall deliver a copy thereof to the comptroller together with a certificate stating the amount due thereunder, and the amount so fixed shall be paid out of the state treasury after audit by the comptroller from moneys appropriated for the acquisition of property under this section. As used in this subdivision the term "commercial property" shall include property owned by an individual, family, partnership, corporation, association or a nonprofit organization and includes a farm operation. As used in this subdivision the term "business" means any lawful activity, except a farm operation, conducted primarily for the purchase, sale, lease and rental of personal and real property, and for the manufacture, processing, or marketing of products, commodities, or any other personal property; for the sale of services to the public; or by a nonprofit organization. 12. The commissioner of transportation pursuant to section three hundred five of the eminent domain procedure law may make agreements on such terms, conditions and consideration as he deems beneficial to the state with respect to any property heretofore or hereafter acquired whereby such property may be used and occupied by the former owner, tenant or by any other party from a date specified in said agreement, until such time as the state requires and obtains actual physical possession. The agreements for the use and occupancy of such property may be managed, supervised and enforced (1) by the staff, forces and equipment of the department of transportation; or (2) by the commissioner of transportation contracting for the management, supervision and enforcement thereof with any person, firm or corporation; or (3) by a combination of such methods.The use and occupancy of such property under the provisions of this section and the right of the state or its duly authorized agent to recover possession thereof shall not be subject to the emergency housing rent control law. Expenses which are determined by the commissioner of transportation to have been incurred in connection with the use and occupancy of such property may be paid out of the state treasury after audit by the comptroller from moneys appropriated for the duly authorized project for which the property was acquired. However, such expenses incurred under a contract for management and supervision of such property may be paid out of the gross revenue therefrom. All moneys received by the commissioner of transportation for such use or occupancy shall be paid into the treasury of the state to the credit of the capital construction fund. 13. Authorization is hereby given to the commissioner of transportation to make supplemental relocation payments, separately computed and stated, to displaced owners and tenants of residential property acquired pursuant to this section who are entitled thereto, as determined by him. The commissioner with the approval of the director of the budget, may establish and from time to time amend rules and regulations providing for such supplemental relocation payments. Such rules and regulations may further define the terms used in this subdivision. In the case of property acquired pursuant to this section which is improved by a dwelling actually owned and occupied by the displaced owner for not less than one hundred eighty days immediately prior to initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of such property, such payment to such owner shall not exceed fifteen thousand dollars. Such payment shall be the amount, if any, which when added to the acquisition payments equals the average price, established by the commissioner on a class, group or individual basis, required to obtain a comparable replacement dwelling that is decent, safe and sanitary to accommodate the displaced owner, reasonably accessible to public services and places of employment and available on the private market, but in no event shall such payment exceed the difference between acquisition payment and the actual purchase price of the replacement dwelling. Such payment shall include an amount which will compensate such displaced owner for any increased interest costs which such person is required to pay for financing the acquisition of any such comparable replacement dwelling. Such amount shall be paid only if the dwelling acquired pursuant to this section was encumbered by a bona fide mortgage which was a valid lien on such dwelling for not less than one hundred eighty days prior to the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of such dwelling. Such amount shall be equal to the excess in the aggregate interest and other debt service costs of that amount of the principal of the mortgage on the replacement dwelling which is equal to the unpaid balance of the mortgage on the acquired dwelling, over the remainder term of the mortgage on the acquired dwelling, reduced to discounted present value. The discount rate shall be the prevailing interest rate paid on savings deposits by commercial banks in the general area in which the replacement dwelling is located. Any such mortgage interest differential payment shall, notwithstanding the provisions of section twenty-six-b of the general construction law, be in lieu of and in full satisfaction of the requirements of such action. Such payment shall include reasonable expenses incurred by such displaced owner for evidence of title, recording fees and other closing costs incident to the purchase of the replacement dwelling, but not including prepaid expenses. Such payment shall be made only to a displaced owner who purchases and occupies a replacement dwelling which is decent, safe and sanitary within one year subsequent to the date onwhich he is required to move from the dwelling acquired pursuant to this section or the date on which he receives from the state final payment of all costs of the acquired dwelling, whichever occurs later, except advance payment of such amount may be made in hardship cases. In the case of property acquired pursuant to this section from which an individual or family, not otherwise eligible to receive a payment pursuant to the above provisions of this subdivision, is displaced from any dwelling thereon which has been actually and lawfully occupied by such individual or family for not less than ninety days immediately prior to the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of such property, such payment to such individual or family shall not exceed four thousand dollars. Such payment shall be the amount which is necessary to enable such individual or family to lease or rent for a period not to exceed four years, a decent, safe, and sanitary dwelling of standards adequate to accommodate such individual or family in areas not generally less desirable in regard to public utilities and public and commercial facilities and reasonably accessible to his place of employment, but shall not exceed four thousand dollars, or to make the down payment, including reasonable expenses incurred by such individual or family for evidence of title, recording fees, and other closing costs incident to the purchase of the replacement dwelling, but not including prepaid expenses, on the purchase of a decent, safe and sanitary dwelling of standards adequate to accommodate such individual or family in areas not generally less desirable in regard to public utilities and public and commercial facilities, but shall not exceed four thousand dollars, except if such amount exceeds two thousand dollars, such person must equally match any such amount in excess of two thousand dollars, in making the down payment. Such payments may be made in installments as determined by the commissioner. Application for payment under this subdivision shall be made to the commissioner upon forms prescribed by him and shall be accompanied by such information and evidence as the commissioner may require. Upon approval of such application, the commissioner shall deliver a copy thereof to the comptroller together with a certificate stating the amount due thereunder, and the amount so fixed shall be paid out of the state treasury after audit by the comptroller from moneys appropriated for the acquisition of property under this section. 14. Any owner may pursuant to section five hundred three of the eminent domain procedure law present to the court of claims a claim for the value of such property acquired and for legal damages, as provided by law for the filing of claims with the court of claims. Awards and judgments of the court of claims shall be paid in the same manner as awards and judgments of that court for the acquisition of lands generally and shall be paid out of the state treasury from moneys appropriated for the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of state thruways and bridges thereon. 15. If the work of constructing, reconstructing and maintaining such state thruways and bridges thereon causes damage to property not acquired as above provided, the state shall be liable therefor, but this provision shall not be deemed to create any liability not already existing by statute. Claims for such damage may be adjusted by the department of transportation, if the amounts thereof can be agreed upon with the persons making such claims, and any amount so agreed upon shall be paid as a part of the cost of such improvement as prescribed by this section. If the amount of any such claim is not agreed upon, such claim may be presented to the court of claims which is hereby authorized to hear such claim and determine if the amount of such claim or any part thereof is a legal claim against the state and if it so determines, tomake an award and enter judgment thereon against the state, provided, however, that such claim is filed with the court of claims within three years after the final acceptance of the work of the improvement by the commissioner of transportation. 16. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the commissioner of transportation shall have the power to acquire by grant or purchase, in the name of the people of the state of New York, any property which he deems necessary for any of the purposes provided for in this section and may also acquire for such purposes from the Palisades interstate park commission, in the name of the people of the state of New York, such lands and such easements, licenses, permits or other rights over lands as the said commission is authorized to grant, sell, exchange or convey. When the acquisition by appropriation, grant or purchase of property deemed necessary for thruway purposes would result in substantial consequential damages to the owner's remaining property, due to loss of access, severance or control of access, the commissioner of transportation, for and in behalf of the people of the state of New York, may acquire by purchase or grant all or any portion of such remaining property. Payment therefor, if any, shall be made in the manner prescribed in this section for the payment of adjusted acquisition claims, provided, however, that no real property shall be so acquired unless the title thereto shall be approved by the attorney general. 17. The expense of the acquisition of property including the cost of making surveys and preparing descriptions and maps of property to be acquired, and of administrative duties in connection therewith, serving notices of appropriation, making title searches, appraisals and agreements, and examinations and readings of title made by the attorney general, and expenses incurred by the commissioner of transportation or the attorney general in proceedings for removal of owners or occupants, shall be deemed part of the cost of such improvement. The comptroller is hereby authorized to charge against any moneys available for the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of state thruways and bridges thereon and to reserve therefrom such sums as may be sufficient to defray the necessary expenses to be incurred by the attorney general for examination, readings, and approval of titles, upon the filing with him by the attorney general from time to time of a certificate or certificates approved by the commissioner of transportation setting forth such estimated expenses. Such expenses shall be paid from the funds so reserved. 18. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, special or local law, the commissioner of transportation, his officers or agents when engaged on work connected with the thruway system of the state of New York, as described in this chapter may pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law enter upon any property for the purpose of making surveys, test pits, test borings, or other investigations and also for temporary occupancy during construction. Claims for any damage caused by such work and not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars may, without appropriating such property, be adjusted by agreement by the commissioner of transportation with the owner of the property affected as determined by him by reasonable investigation, and the amount so agreed upon shall be paid out of the state treasury, after audit by the comptroller, from monies appropriated for the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of state thruways and bridges thereon, but not until there shall have been filed with the comptroller a certificate of the attorney general approving, as to form and manner of execution, such agreement and any release given in consideration of such payment.19. The commissioner of transportation may determine whether any property acquired for any of the purposes connected with the thruway system of the state of New York pursuant to this section may, while under his jurisdiction, and subject to compliance with section four hundred six of the eminent domain procedure law, be sold or exchanged, in whole or in part, on terms beneficial to the state, and in all cases of such determination he may sell or exchange such property; in order to carry any such sale or exchange into effect, the commissioner of transportation is hereby authorized to execute and deliver, in the name of the people of the state, a quitclaim of such property. 20. If the commissioner of transportation, or such duly authorized representative or agency which has succeeded him in the jurisdiction of the property affected, shall determine subsequent to the acquisition of a temporary easement right in property and subsequent to the filing of a map of such property in the office of the county clerk or register, as aforesaid, that the purposes for which such easement right was acquired have been accomplished and that the use and occupancy of said property for state thruway purposes are no longer necessary, and that, therefore, the term of such easement should then be terminated, or if the appropriation of such easement was for an indefinite period, that the end of such period should be fixed and determined, or that the period of such easement has by its terms expired, he shall make his certificate to that effect and, in case he certifies that the use and occupancy of such property for such thruway purposes are no longer necessary, he shall further certify that the property in which such easement right was acquired is surrendered back to the affected owner of said property and that such easement right is thereupon terminated, released and extinguished. The commissioner of transportation, or his said successor, shall cause a copy of such certificate to be filed in the office of the department of state. Upon the filing of such certificate in the office of the department of state, the term of such easement, or all the easement rights acquired by the state in such property, shall, by virtue of such filing and in accordance with the determination expressed in such certificate, be fixed and determined, or terminated, released and extinguished. The commissioner of transportation, or his said successor, shall cause a copy of such certificate together with notice of the filing thereof in the office of the department of state to be mailed to the current owner of the property affected, so far as such owner and his place of residence can be ascertained by him by reasonable investigation. A further copy of such certificate and notice of filing shall be filed in the office of the recording officer of each county wherein the property affected is situated. Upon the filing with said officer of such certificate, in the form aforementioned, and of such notice, it shall be his duty, without further requirement, to record the same in the books used for recording deeds in his office.