§ 21. Restoration, preservation and enhancement of natural or scenic
beauty. The commissioner of transportation is hereby authorized and
empowered to acquire property for the restoration, preservation and
enhancement of natural or scenic beauty of areas traversed by state
highways, in order for the state to comply with any federal aid highway
acts. Acquisition of property for the purposes of this section shall be
in the manner provided by section thirty of this chapter, except that
any property in the city of New York, which is deemed by the
commissioner of transportation and the city of New York to be necessary
for the purposes of this section, shall be acquired by the city of New
York in the same manner as provided in section three hundred
forty-nine-c of this chapter relating to the acquisition of property for
the state arterial system in the city of New York. However, any property
located more than six hundred sixty feet from the nearest edge of the
right of way of any state highway, as shown on the final construction
plans for such highway on file in the department of transportation,
shall be acquired for the purposes of this section only by grant or
purchase. The term "property" as used in this section is defined to
include lands, waters, rights in lands or waters, structures,
franchises, and interest in land, including lands under water and
riparian rights and any and all other things and rights usually included
within the said term and includes also any and all interests in such
property less than full title, such as easements, permanent or
temporary, rights-of-way, uses, leases, licenses and all other
incorporeal hereditaments and every estate, interest or right, legal or
equitable. Notwithstanding any provision of this section, no property
may be appropriated for the purposes of this section which is in areas
zoned industrial or commercial under authority of state law or areas
which are used predominantly for industrial or commercial activities.