Section 401. Land; purchase or acquisition

1. The commissioner, when an
  appropriation therefor has been made by the legislature, may acquire any
  real property which he may deem necessary for any  departmental  purpose
  by purchase or acquisition pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law.
    Title  to  any such real property shall be taken in the name of and be
  vested in the people of the state of New York; provided,  however,  that
  no  real  property  shall  be  so  acquired by purchase unless the title
  thereto shall be approved by the attorney general.
    2. Whenever real property is to be acquired pursuant  to  the  eminent
  domain  procedure  law  the  commissioner  shall cause to be made by the
  state department  of  transportation  an  accurate  acquisition  map  as
  provided in such law.
    3.  On  the  approval  of  such  map by the commissioner, the original
  tracing of such map shall be filed in the main office of the department.
    4. If the commissioner shall determine, prior to the  filing  of  such
  map  in the office of the clerk or register of the county, that changes,
  alterations or modifications of such map as filed in the main office  of
  the  department  should  be  made,  he  or  she  shall,  subject  to the
  provisions of article two  of  the  eminent  domain  procedure  law,  if
  applicable,  direct  the preparation by the department of transportation
  of an  amended  map.  On  the  approval  of  such  amended  map  by  the
  commissioner, it shall be filed in the main office of the department 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 the filing of a  copy
  of such acquisition 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  law, that such map should be withdrawn, he or she may file a certificate
  of withdrawal in the offices of the department and of the 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 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  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 as provided for in the eminent domain procedure
  law, the commissioner shall deem it necessary to cause the removal of an
  owner or occupant from any real property so acquired, he may cause  such
  owner  or  occupant  to be removed therefrom by proceeding in accordance
  with section four hundred five of the eminent domain procedure law.  The
  proceeding  shall be brought in the name of the commissioner as agent of
  the state and the attorney general shall represent the petitioner in the
  proceedings. No execution shall issue for costs, if any, awarded against
  the state or the commissioner, but they shall be part of  the  costs  of
  the  acquisition  of  the  real  property  and  be  paid in like manner.
  Proceedings may be brought separately against one or more of the  owners
  or  occupants  of  any  such  property, or one proceeding may be brought
  against all or several of the owners or occupants of  any  or  all  such
  property  within the territorial jurisdiction of the same court, justice
  or judge; judgment shall  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.

    8. Claims for the value of any property acquired and for legal damages
  caused by any such acquisition may be adjusted by the commissioner, even
  though  a  claim  has been filed with the court of claims, if the amount
  thereof can be agreed upon with the owner  or  owners  thereof.  If  the
  amount of a claim cannot be agreed upon, the commissioner shall offer to
  the  owner or owners the amount determined by the commissioner to be the
  value of such claim. Upon the acceptance of such offer the  commissioner
  shall  enter  into  an agreement with such owner or owners providing for
  such payment with interest thereon,  if  any,  as  allowed  by  law  and
  reserving  to such owner or owners the right to file such claim with the
  court of claims or if a claim has been  filed  reserving  the  right  to
  prosecute said claim. The reservation of the right to file said claim in
  the  court  of  claims  shall  not  extend or affect in any way the time
  limited for the filing of such claim as provided for  in  the  court  of
  claims act. The failure of the owner or owners to file said claim within
  the  time of filing claims specified by the court of claims act shall be
  deemed an acceptance of the amount  paid  as  full  settlement  of  such
  claim.  If  such  offer  is  refused  by  the owner or owners, or is not
  accepted within ninety days after notification by  the  commissioner  of
  such  offer  by  registered mail, interest on the amount of the claim so
  offered shall be  suspended  from  the  date  of  such  refusal  or  the
  expiration of such ninety days, whichever is earlier, to the date of the
  entry of judgment in the court of claims. If such offer is refused or is
  not accepted within said ninety days the offer shall be deemed withdrawn
  and  may  be  revived  only  at the discretion of the commissioner. Upon
  making any agreement provided for in section three hundred four  of  the
  eminent  domain  procedure  law,  the  commissioner shall deliver to the
  comptroller such agreement and a certificate stating the amount due such
  owner or owners thereunder on account of  such  acquisition  of  his  or
  their  property  and the amounts so fixed shall be paid out of the state
  treasury after audit by the comptroller from moneys appropriated for the
  acquisition of such real property, but not until there shall  have  been
  filed with the comptroller a certificate of the attorney general showing
  the  person or persons claiming the amounts so agreed upon to be legally
  entitled thereto.
    9. 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.
    10. The commissioner, 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.
    11.  Authorization  is  hereby  given  to  the  commissioner  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 payment  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 section. 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 on which 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.
    12.  The  owner  of  any  real property so acquired may present to the
  court of claims, pursuant to section five hundred three of  the  eminent
  domain  procedure  law,  a claim for the value of such property acquired
  and for legal damages caused by such acquisition, 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 after audit by  the  comptroller  from
  moneys appropriated for the acquisition of such real property.
    14.  If the commissioner shall determine subsequent to the acquisition
  of a temporary easement in any real property that the purposes for which
  such easement right was acquired have been  accomplished  and  that  the
  exercise  of  such  easement  is  no longer necessary, he shall make his
  certificate that the exercise of such easement is  no  longer  necessary
  and  that  such  easement  right  is  therefore terminated, released and
  extinguished. The commissioner shall cause such certificate to be  filed
  in the office of the department of state and upon such filing all rights
  acquired  by  the  state in such property shall cease and determine. The
  commissioner shall cause a certified copy  of  such  certificate  as  so
  filed in the office of the department of state to be mailed to the owner
  of  the  property affected, as certified by the attorney general, if the
  place of residence of such owner is known or can  be  ascertained  by  a
  reasonable  effort and such commissioner shall cause a further certified
  copy of such certificate to be filed in  the  office  of  the  recording
  officer  of  each  county  in  which  the  property affected or any part
  thereof is situated. On the  filing  of  such  certified  copy  of  such
  certificate  with such recording officer, it shall be his duty to record
  the same in his office in the books used  for  recording  deeds  and  to
  index  the  same against the name of the people of the state of New York
  as grantor.
    15.  Notwithstanding  any  other  provision  of  this   section,   the
  commissioner  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 and 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 departmental 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
  appropriation claims, provided, however, that no real property shall  be

  so  acquired  unless the title thereto shall be approved by the attorney
  general.