Two very different energy ideas are sharing one headline in Watertown right now, and it is worth pulling them apart — because only one of them is anywhere near a decision.
The Watertown City Council meets tonight, Monday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers at 245 Washington St., and the former city landfill is on the agenda again. As ClickNNY reported last week, the council is weighing a solar farm on the 78-acre site — and, in parallel, whether the city should express interest in nuclear power there. Tonight’s actual business is the solar numbers. Willdan Performance Engineering told the council in October that roughly 40 of the 78 acres could support solar; tonight, Willdan or city staff are expected to present updated figures.
Why the city is looking at this land at all
The driver is a deadline. Watertown’s hydroelectric contract is expected to end around 2029 or 2030, and the landfill — closed, capped, and limited in what it can be used for — is one of the few sizable pieces of land the city controls. Energy or lease revenue from it would help fill the gap the hydro contract leaves behind.
The problem is the spread. Estimates presented to the council so far range from the solar project losing up to $151,000 a year to gaining up to $450,000 a year. A range that wide is not an answer; it is a sign the math is not settled yet, which is exactly why tonight’s updated figures matter more than the debate around them. This ground has been here before, too: a solar developer proposed an array in 2019, and another offered $2.1 million for a 30-year lease in 2020. Neither moved forward.
Where nuclear actually stands
The nuclear piece is real, but it is much earlier than the word makes it sound. In June 2025, New York directed the New York Power Authority to develop at least 1 gigawatt of advanced nuclear power upstate, and NYPA heard back from eight upstate communities — Jefferson County among them — interested in being considered. Council member Shane Garrabrant has proposed that Watertown send its own letter expressing interest. Council member Doug Osborne has supported looking into it; Council member Ben Shoen has asked the fair question of whether the site even has enough usable land for a nuclear facility.
A letter of interest is not an application, a siting decision, or a construction timeline. It is a place in line for a state-run process that would take years of study, licensing, and public review before anything could be built anywhere. Nothing nuclear is being approved tonight, this year, or on any schedule the council controls.
The neighbors are part of this
The landfill sits near homes on Water Street, and ClickNNY found residents split — some raising property values, environmental questions, and what may be in the soil; others comfortable letting the city decide how to use its own property. Osborne has said safety and residents’ concerns come before action. Whatever the council does with the solar figures tonight, a public process that keeps those neighbors in it early — not after a direction is set — is the difference between a project and a fight.
What to watch tonight
Three things will tell you where this is really headed: whether the council treats the new solar figures as solid enough to act on or sends Willdan back for more work; whether the nuclear letter is formally authorized or stays a talking point; and whether any step is scheduled specifically for the Water Street neighborhood to be heard. Agendas and minutes are posted through the City of Watertown website.
Solar is a decision the city will make on a deadline. Nuclear is a letter the city may send about a possibility. Both are worth following — just not on the same clock.