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Belltown, Conn.Vol. I, No. 1
Founded 2026
The East Hampton ❦ Belltown, ConnecticutMercuryAlways Last... To Breaking News!
Late EditionThursday, Sept. 24, 2026
Sixteen minutes to read
Set from the Public RecordEleven meetings · Twenty-seven items · Sixteen minutes to readNames checked against the town roster
HousingThe Vote

Two to nine units, no hearing: state housing rules adopted

Planning and Zoning votes 6 to 0

By Jack Beckett ·

Ayes 6Nays 0

Planning and Zoning adopted rules required by the state's new middle housing law on July 1. The law covers buildings between a single house and a large complex. In the town's commercial and mixed-use zones, buildings of two to nine units are now allowed by site plan approval only, which means no public hearing.

In a parking district the commission drew, the most the town can require is one space for a studio or one-bedroom and two for anything larger.

A small apartment building in those zones no longer needs a hearing to be approved.
Planning and Zoning Commission, July 1, 2026. Watch

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In This Item
More on Housing
HousingThe Date

The town's 10-year plan is out for comment

Comments close at the end of October

The draft Plan of Conservation and Development, the town's guide for the next 10 years, is posted on the town website. The formal comment period began at the Sept. 22 council meeting and runs to the end of October. Written comments go to the steering committee at the Land Use office in Town Hall.

Planning and Zoning plans a public hearing on the final version near the end of the year.

The plan guides future zoning, housing and village center decisions.
Next ❦ Comment period ends Oct. 31.
Town Manager's report, Sept. 21, 2026. Read the report
HousingThe Number

789

Fewer people, more households: what the draft town plan found

East Hampton has lost 789 residents since 2000 but gained more than 1,000 households, a shift the presentation attributed to shrinking households, according to the draft Plan of Conservation and Development, the town's 10-year planning guide, presented to the council Sept. 8. More than half of households, 54%, are one or two people.

The same presentation said 81% of the town's taxable value is single-family homes and 7% is commercial and industrial, and a quarter of the town's land is not taxed at all.

Homeowners carry most of the tax load, which the presentation called a structural problem.
Next ❦ Comments on the draft plan close at the end of October; send them to the steering committee through the Land Use office at Town Hall.
Town Council, Sept. 8, 2026. Watch
HousingThe Number

215 of 564

Affordable units the town has, against what it would need

East Hampton has about 215 affordable housing units. It would need about 564, roughly 350 more, to be exempt from the state law known as 8-30g, which requires the town to consider certain affordable housing proposals that its zoning would otherwise block. The town manager put the figures on the record Aug. 11.

Until the gap closes, developers can use that law here.
Town Council, Aug. 11, 2026. Watch

The whole Housing storyline ▸