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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
The LotThree Minutes

Five houses, and not enough water

A resident asks the town to keep the lot for a fire tank

By Jack Beckett ·

Douglas Mackeown asked the council on Aug. 11 to keep the Middle Haddam tennis court lot and put a 50,000-gallon water tank under it for firefighting. He said five Middle Haddam houses have burned to the ground, three of them on Schoolhouse Lane, because firefighters could not get water fast enough. He did not say when the fires happened.

Later in the meeting a council member asked to hear whether the fire department sees a need for it.

The lot now has two ideas on the record: housing and a fire tank.
Town Council, Aug. 11, 2026. Watch
In This Item
More on The Lot
The LotWhat happened

Middle Haddam tennis court lot: not for sale

Any sale would take a town meeting

The Middle Haddam Association, through its attorney, Brian Corvo, asked the council on Aug. 11 whether the town would negotiate over the town-owned tennis court lot tied to the former Middle Haddam School. Corvo said there is no application. A layout discussed at the meeting, described as conceptual, showed 36 affordable housing units.

The council said it is not considering a sale. The town manager said one would need the council, Board of Finance approval, Planning and Zoning review, a purchase agreement and a town meeting.

A sale can't happen quietly. It has to pass a town meeting.
Next ❦ The lot was not on the council's Sept. 8 or Sept. 22 agendas.
Town Council, Aug. 11, 2026. Watch

The whole The Lot storyline ▸