N.Y. High. Law § 173
Whenever the town superintendent of highways of any township shall determine that public necessity requires the laying out of a new or additional highway, and the land therefor cannot be obtained by the dedication of the owners thereof, or if a highway proposed to be constructed or improved shall deviate from the line of the highway already existing and the town board be unable to acquire land by purchase for such requisite right of way as provided by section one hundred and seventy-one of this chapter, he may apply to the town board of his town for permission to institute a proceeding to acquire so much land as may be necessary to lay out such new or additional highway, and when such consent shall have been given by the town board of such town, the said town superintendent of highways may make application pursuant to the eminent domain procedure law to supreme court in the judicial district in which such proposed highway is situated, to obtain an order for permission to file an acquisition map of the property to be acquired.
N.Y. High. Law § 173