Finger Lakes history · regional story
A state forest with a city water system
The 2010 land transfer around Hemlock and Canadice left distinct responsibilities for the forest, water facilities and local payments.
When New York acquired Rochester’s watershed property in 2010, it did not take over every part of the water system. DEC’s January 2015 management plan says the city retained the filtration plant, the intake pipes in Hemlock and Canadice lakes, and the Canadice dams. Hemlock-Canadice Unit Management Plan, Final.
The arrangement also reached into local budgets. The plan identifies a June 17, 2010 memorandum dividing payments in lieu of taxes, usually shortened to PILOT. These were named obligations, not one payment for the entire two-lake landscape. Hemlock-Canadice Unit Management Plan, Final.
Under the division described there, the State took the Conesus and Livingston County payments. Rochester kept the Town of Livonia payment. The Livonia Central School District payment was split: the State’s part followed Conesus, the city’s part Livonia. Hemlock-Canadice Unit Management Plan, Final.
That makes the transfer more complicated than a change of owner on a map. The forest and the water facilities had different administrative boundaries. This is the arrangement described in the 2015 plan; it is not a statement of today’s ownership, tax law or payment record. Hemlock-Canadice Unit Management Plan, Final.
Sources & research notes
Review status: Developing history. Human editorial review is pending.
Written and source-checked with AI assistance under an owner-authorized editorial process. This is not a personal review by Riley or an independent historian. Sources and unresolved questions are listed below; corrections are welcome.
- What the records establish
- DEC’s dated plan describes a 2010 acquisition, retained city water facilities and a specific division of PILOT responsibilities.
- What remains uncertain
- The executed memorandum, deeds and actual payment ledgers were not inspected. This account cannot establish present obligations, compliance, dollar totals or the fiscal experience of an individual town or school district.
- What we are researching next
- Locate the June 17, 2010 memorandum and executed transfer instruments; compare the relevant city/state payment ledgers without treating the management-plan summary as the agreement itself.
Sources
- Hemlock-Canadice Unit Management Plan, Final — New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Region 8; 2015-01. Locator: Cover / PDF 1; Printed 13 / PDF 15; Printed 21 / PDF 23; Printed 42 / PDF 44. Exact sub-passages registered separately; titles/columns/units checked against the retained source. Accessed October 22, 2026.