Correction Appended

NEW LONDON, Conn., Jan. 17 - On a good day, Matt Dery can see Fishers Island, off the tip of Long Island, from his kitchen window here at the mouth of the Thames River. The view is one thing he loves about his home, and one reason he wants to stay.

But what Mr. Dery, his aged parents in the house next door, or the handful of other owners who still live nearby, cannot see is how long they will be able to stay here. Legally, their properties have belonged to the City of New London for four years. The city used its power of eminent domain to take their homes and some 90 other nearby properties in the hope of attracting new development, including improved housing and wealthier people.

"I think they don't want to have to look at us," said Mr. Dery's neighbor, Susette Kelo, a nurse who lives in a little pink cottage.

There are nine holdouts in the city's Fort Trumbull section, dozens of cases in the New York region and dozens more around the country in which property owners are fighting local governments to hang on to their homes and businesses. The municipalities want the land for new developments to revitalize communities and bring in higher taxes. But it is the case in New London that is scheduled to be heard next month, when the United States Supreme Court hears arguments in Kelo v. New London.