For decades, property owners in Delaware County, New York, have lived with an extraordinary arrangement: their land is situated in the watershed that supplies drinking water to New York City, hundreds of miles away.
New York City benefits from the Catskill/Delaware water supply system, which operates without filtration under a conditional regulatory arrangement. The surrounding rural communities have accommodated land-use restrictions, conservation programs, and limitations on development intended to protect that water.
But how much property does New York City actually own or control in the Town of Hamden?
I examined the 2026 Final Assessment Roll for the Town of Hamden, a 304-page public document identifying the Town's taxable properties, their owners, assessed values, exemptions, and other information.
The findings deserve public attention.
$8,884,520 IN NEW YORK CITY PROPERTY INTERESTS
The assessment-roll analysis identified 86 entries associated with the City of New York, including properties recorded under the City, its Bureau of Water Supply, and NYC DEP-related designations.
Their combined stated full market value is:
$8,884,520.
The entries fall into two categories:
| Category | Entries | Full market value |
|---|---|---|
| NYC-owned land and other non-easement entries | 48 | $6,833,623 |
| NYC conservation easement entries | 38 | $2,050,897 |
| TOTAL | 86 | $8,884,520 |
The assessment roll uses a valuation date of July 1, 2025, and a taxable-status date of March 1, 2026.
These figures concern assessed property interests, not the City's annual tax payments. Conservation easements represent interests in land that may remain privately owned; they should not be confused with outright ownership of the underlying parcels.
Nevertheless, they reveal something important about the extent of New York City's involvement in Hamden's real estate.
New York City is not merely a distant consumer of the region's water. It is a substantial landowner and holder of property rights within the Town.
LAND OWNERSHIP IS ONLY PART OF THE STORY
The importance of these figures cannot be measured solely in dollars.
New York City purchases land and acquires conservation easements in the watershed to protect the quality of its drinking-water supply.
A conservation easement can impose lasting restrictions on development and land use even when the property remains in private ownership.
Such restrictions can shape what a landowner may build, how the land may be used, and what opportunities remain available to future purchasers.
The result is a landscape in which New York City's water-supply interests are embedded not only in public regulation but also in private property rights.
The economic consequences are experienced locally.
Hamden residents pay property taxes, maintain roads and buildings, operate farms and businesses, and attempt to preserve or sell their properties in a region whose development has long been shaped by the requirements of a distant metropolitan water system.
AND NOW COMES THE FRASER BATTERY STORAGE PROJECT
Against that background, consider the proposed Fraser battery energy storage facility.
According to the developer's December 2025 Emergency Response Plan, the project is designed around 196 Tesla Megapack 2 XL units, with a stated facility rating of 135 MW / 540 MWh.
The same document identifies a nominal capacity of 3,916 kWh per unit—producing an aggregate equipment figure of approximately 767.536 MWh if all 196 units have that nominal capacity.
The difference between the stated facility capacity and the aggregate unit specifications deserves a clear explanation.
But the central question is broader.
How does a region historically subjected to extensive watershed-protection restrictions now accommodate a proposed industrial battery installation with foreseeable fire, smoke, and contaminated-runoff hazards?
Does the proposed facility fall within the same watershed-protection framework that has governed other forms of development?
Which governmental agencies have reviewed its potential effects on water quality?
What standards are being applied?
And are those standards consistent with the restrictions imposed upon ordinary property owners?
The assessment roll does not answer these questions. It demonstrates why they matter.
THE COUNTY LANDFILL ADDS ANOTHER DIMENSION
There is another environmental controversy unfolding in the same region.
In August 2026, Delaware County opposed proposed NYSDEC regulations concerning landfill leachate, including requirements addressing PFAS and other contaminants.
According to The Mountain Eagle, County Attorney Kevin M. Young participated in presenting the County's opposition, while County officials warned that compliance could require approximately $50 million in infrastructure improvements.
On September 2, 2026, the Town of Hamden adopted its own resolution opposing the proposed regulations.
My husband and I own approximately 40 acres of residential property along State Highway 10, about one mile from the Delaware County landfill.
We have repeatedly experienced noxious odors reaching our property, sometimes in overpowering concentrations.
We live in South Carolina now and want to sell our New York property.
The scenic beauty of a wooded Catskill mountain valley is a substantial part of its attraction. Recurring landfill odors are hardly a selling point.
The landfill-leachate controversy concerns water pollution, while our firsthand experience concerns airborne odors. They are distinct problems, but both illustrate why environmental regulation matters to property owners.
AND WHO IS THE ATTORNEY INVOLVED IN THESE MATTERS?
Here is another remarkable overlap.
Kevin M. Young of Young/Sommer LLC has represented Delaware County in environmental and watershed matters, including negotiations concerning New York City's watershed restrictions.
Young/Sommer also represents the Town of Hamden.
And Young/Sommer represents Fraser Storage, LLC, the private developer proposing the battery facility.
On March 4, 2026, the Hamden Town Board approved a conflict-of-interest waiver permitting the firm's concurrent representation of the Town and Fraser. This conflict is NOT reconcilable. I wonder what kind of "arrangements" were involved to get that conflict agreement to be signed, but whoever did it should be impeached and barred from ever holding public office. It is not for sale.
The firm has also been involved in selecting consultants to review the Fraser application.
These are documented relationships. Their precise scope, the disclosures accompanying the waiver, and the legal consequences of the concurrent representations warrant examination.
The public is entitled to ask how independent municipal review is maintained when the same law firm represents both the municipality and the private developer seeking its approval.
And the firm's involvement in County landfill and watershed matters makes those questions all the more important.
WHOSE ENVIRONMENTAL INTERESTS COUNT?
The 2026 assessment roll supplies a useful starting point for a much larger examination of land ownership, environmental policy, and economic development in Delaware County.
New York City has accumulated millions of dollars in assessed land and conservation interests in Hamden.
For decades, the need to protect its unfiltered drinking-water supply has influenced the economic opportunities available to local landowners.
Meanwhile, Delaware County and Hamden have opposed additional landfill-leachate regulations, and a major industrial battery project is moving through the local review process.
Why should ordinary landowners bear watershed restrictions while major industrial proposals receive consideration without a publicly demonstrated reconciliation of their hazards with the same watershed-protection objectives?
That is not an argument against protecting New York City's drinking water.
It is an argument for consistent environmental protection, independent governmental decision-making, and equal consideration of local property owners' interests.
New York City's drinking water matters.
So do Hamden's residents, their wells, their homes, their land, and their ability to sell property without having its value undermined by industrial pollution or environmental hazards.
The watershed cannot be treated as too precious for ordinary economic development and, at the same time, as an acceptable location for industrial hazards without a rigorous, transparent explanation.
The public deserves that explanation.
Primary source: Town of Hamden, 2026 Final Assessment Roll, taxable section, valuation date July 1, 2025.
Additional sources: Fraser Storage, LLC, Emergency Response Plan, Revision 1, December 14, 2025; Town of Hamden Town Board minutes, March 4 and September 2, 2026; Town of Hamden Planning Board minutes, July 28, 2026; The Mountain Eagle, August 31, 2026, “New Regulations Could Force Early Landfill Closure, Officials Say”; Delaware County Department of Public Works, September 2026 landfill-leachate regulatory materials.
The figures in the article have been checked against the uploaded assessment roll: 86 NYC-listed entries totaling $8,884,520, including 38 conservation-easement entries valued at $2,050,897.
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