§ 553-e. Laws applicable to certain activities. 1. (a) In its
performance of any project authorized by paragraph (m), (n), (o), (p) or
(r) of subdivision nine of section five hundred fifty-three of this
title, the authority shall not be deemed the agent or instrumentality of
any other public benefit or municipal corporation notwithstanding the
fact that title to any real or personal property (or any interest
therein) which is the subject of or is a part of such project is held
by, or upon completion of such project is to be transferred to, any such
entity, and the provisions of section five hundred fifty-nine of this
title shall not be applicable with respect to any such project. In its
performance of any such project for the New York city transit authority,
however, the provisions of section twelve hundred nine of this chapter
shall apply to the authority as if it were the "authority" referred to
therein.

(b) Neither the provisions of section one hundred ninety-seven-c of
the New York city charter, relating to a uniform land use review
procedure, nor the provisions of any other local law of the city of New
York of like or similar tenor or import shall apply (i) to the
acquisition of any real property (or any interest therein) for the
purposes of any such project by the city or by the New York city transit
authority or any of its subsidiaries; (ii) to the subsequent transfer of
any real property (or interest therein) so acquired to the authority or
its designee for the purposes of such project or to the transfer to the
authority or its designee for such purposes of any real property (or
interest therein) then owned by the city or by the New York city transit
authority or any such subsidiary; nor (iii) to the transfer to the
authority or its designee for such purposes of the right of use,
occupancy, control or possession of any real property (or interest
therein), whether presently owned or hereafter acquired by the city or
by the New York city transit authority or any such subsidiary; provided
in each such case, however, that if at the time of such proposed
acquisition or transfer the real property which is the subject of such
acquisition or transfer is not then being utilized for a transit or
transportation purpose or is not an insubstantial addition to such
property contiguous thereto; (a) the authority proposing to acquire or
receive such property shall, unless a submission with respect to such
property has previously been made and approved as herein provided,
submit to the community board for the community district in which such
property is located, data with respect to the proposed use of such
property and to the design of any facility proposed to be constructed
thereon; (b) such community board shall inform the board of estimate of
the city of New York, with copies to the city planning commission of the
city of New York and the proposing authority, of its views and
recommendations with respect thereto within forty-five days of such
submission, and if the community board shall fail to so inform the board
of estimate within such period it shall be deemed to have recommended
the proposal; and (c) the board of estimate shall, within forty-five
days of the recommendation of the community board, approve or disapprove
such acquisition or transfer, and if the board of estimate shall fail to
act within such period it shall be deemed to have approved the same.

2. After the transfer, transfer back, lease or sublease by the
authority of any such project or part thereof, actions for damages to
real or personal property or for the destruction thereof, or for
personal injuries or death, based upon the use, condition or state of
such project or part thereof may not be instituted against the
authority, which shall have no liability or responsibility to the
transferee, lessee or sublessee or to third parties therefor.

3. If any property, real or personal (or any interest therein), needed
or useful for or in connection with any such project is owned by any
municipal corporation, such corporation may transfer the same, with or
without consideration, to the authority for such purpose, and if such
property is owned by the city of New York, such transfer may be by
action of its mayor alone.

4. The authority, upon suitable notice to and an offer to consult with
an officer designated by the city of New York, may occupy the streets of
the city of New York for the purpose of doing any work over or under the
same in connection with any such project without the consent of or
payment to the city of New York.

5. The providing of any such project for the use or benefit of the New
York city transit authority or any of its subsidiaries shall not relieve
the city of its obligations under law or by lease to pay the capital
costs of the said authority or of its subsidiaries.

6. Except as the authority shall otherwise agree, title to any such
project or any part thereof or interest therein which shall have been
transferred, leased or subleased to the New York city transit authority
or its designated subsidiary, shall remain in such transferee, lessee or
sublessee, any provisions of title nine of article five of this chapter
or of any lease or other agreement entered into under the provisions of
that title to the contrary notwithstanding.

7. The metropolitan transportation authority, the New York city
transit authority and the designated subsidiaries of each of them are
each hereby authorized (i) to request the authority to undertake any
such project; (ii) to acquire in its own name by gift, purchase or
condemnation, and, additionally, in the case of the metropolitan
transportation authority, by appropriation pursuant to section twelve
hundred sixty-seven-a of this chapter, any real or personal property (or
any interest therein), which is needed or useful for or in connection
with such project, the provisions of any lease or other agreement with
the city to the contrary notwithstanding, and to surrender the use,
occupancy, control or possession of or to transfer the same, or of any
other such real or personal property (or any interest therein) which it
owns, leases, operates or controls, to the authority; (iii) to accept a
transfer, transfer back, lease or sublease of any such project or part
thereof upon its completion; (iv) to undertake any such project itself,
or to finance, through loans, leases or otherwise, any other person or
entity, public or private, to do so, in each case using funds granted by
the authority to pay all or any part of the costs thereof (such
undertaking, in the case of the New York city transit authority and its
subsidiary, the Manhattan and Bronx surface transit operating authority,
being free of any restriction set forth in subparagraph (ii) of
paragraph b of subdivision one of section twelve hundred three or in
paragraph (c) of subdivision five of section twelve hundred three-a of
this chapter); and (v) to make its agents, employees and facilities
available to the authority in connection therewith.

8. No such project to be constructed upon real property theretofore
used for a transit or transportation purpose, or on an insubstantial
addition to such property contiguous thereto, which will not change in a
material respect the general character of such prior transit or
transportation use, nor any acts or activities in connection with such
project, shall be subject to the provisions of article eight, nineteen,
twenty-four or twenty-five of the environmental conservation law, or to
any local law or ordinance adopted pursuant to any such article. Nor
shall any project or acts or activities in connection therewith taken by
any person or entity, public or private, pursuant to paragraph (m), (n),
(o), (p), or (r) of subdivision nine of section five hundred fifty-three
of this title be subject to the provisions of article eight of the
environmental conservation law if such project, acts or activities to be
taken in connection therewith require the preparation of a statement
under or pursuant to any federal law or regulation as to the
environmental impact thereof.

9. In connection with the negotiation, award and implementation of
contracts of the authority relating to any project hereafter initiated
pursuant to paragraphs (m), (n), (o), (p) and (r) of subdivision nine of
section five hundred fifty-three of this title, the provisions of
paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of subdivision thirteen of section
twelve hundred sixty-six-c of this chapter shall apply to the authority
as if it were the "authority" referred to therein, and the officer
designated by the metropolitan transportation authority pursuant to
paragraph (e) of that subdivision shall perform the duties therein
described with respect to such contracts of the authority.

10. The financing of any such project through the issuance of bonds or
notes of the authority shall be subject to the provisions of section
twelve hundred sixty-nine-b of this chapter.

11. The aggregate principal amount of bonds and notes issued and
outstanding at any time to finance projects authorized by paragraphs
(m), (n), (o), (p) and (r) of subdivision nine of section five hundred
fifty-three of this title shall not exceed one billion one hundred
million dollars through December thirty-first, nineteen hundred
eighty-six and three billion two hundred million dollars thereafter,
provided however that such latter amount shall not exceed two billion
two hundred million dollars for all bonds and notes other than those
issued pursuant to section five hundred fifty-three-d of this title.
This limitation shall not include (i) bonds and notes issued to refund
or otherwise repay bonds or notes theretofore issued for such purposes,
(ii) bonds issued to fund any reasonably required debt service reserve
fund for bonds and notes, and (iii) an amount equal to any original
issue discount from the prinicipal amount of any bonds or notes issued
and then outstanding. From the proceeds of the bonds and notes provided
for in the first sentence of this subdivision, other than bonds or notes
authorized by section five hundred fifty-three-d of this title, the
authority shall not expend more than one billion three hundred twenty
million dollars for transit projects as defined in section twelve
hundred sixty-six-c of this chapter nor more than eight hundred eighty
million dollars for transportation facilities as such term is defined in
subdivision fourteen of section twelve hundred sixty-one of this chapter
other than marine or aviation facilities. For the purposes of this
subdivision, facilities under the jurisdiction of the Staten Island
rapid transit operating authority shall be considered transit projects.