Town Meeting Minute Issue #16: The PFAS Map That Stopped a Vote Four Years of Hearings

Posted by Tim Bray on September 27th, 2026

Town Meeting Minute · Issue Nº 16 · September 2026

Groundwater: A New Line Item in the Zoning Ledger

A PFAS contamination map just did what months of testimony couldn't — and three other decisions across four counties are still sitting on the docket.

Welcome back to Town Meeting Minute, Seaport Real Estate Services' recurring read on the municipal decisions reshaping land value across New London & Middlesex Counties (CT) and Washington & Newport Counties (RI). This issue, the story isn't a vote — it's an environmental data point that just became a land-use variable. In Tiverton, a newly posted PFAS contamination map froze a comprehensive-permit vote that four years of hearings hadn't stopped. Meanwhile, Stonington's two biggest…

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A 1930 Cape Cod on Quaker Lane — For Sale in Quaker Hill, CT

Posted by Tim Bray on September 3rd, 2026

Quaker Hill · Waterford, Connecticut

A 1930 Cape Cod on Quaker Lane

Nearly a century of good bones, quiet streets, and Southeastern Connecticut’s shoreline just down the road — 16 Quaker Lane is offered for sale.

Brokers’ Open House

Saturday, September 5  •  11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

16 Quaker Lane, Quaker Hill (Waterford), CT 06375

16 Quaker Lane, Quaker Hill

Some houses announce themselves; a Cape Cod settles in. Built in 1930, 16 Quaker Lane belongs to the generation of New England homes that were made to be lived in first and admired second — a steep roof to shed the winter, a compact footprint that heats sensibly, and rooms arranged around the practical rhythms of daily life. Nearly a hundred years on, that logic still…

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What a Home Actually Costs to Own in CT & RI: 208 Towns Compared

Posted by Tim Bray on August 2nd, 2026

2026 Property Tax Report · Connecticut

The list price tells you what a home costs to buy. It says nothing about what it costs to own — and in 2026, that second number is where Connecticut buyers get surprised. The same home, one town line apart, can carry a tax bill that differs by well over a thousand dollars a month.

10.85 Lowest rate
(Washington) 68.95 Highest rate
(Hartford) 28.39 Statewide
median 169 Towns in
this report

The number most buyers never check

Everyone shopping for a home watches the price. Far fewer ask the question that actually sets the monthly payment: what’s the property tax? In Connecticut, the answer comes from the town’s mill rate — the dollars…

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Town Meeting Minute — Issue #10: The Next Wave of Density Is Hiding in the Details

Posted by Tim Bray on May 10th, 2026

Town Meeting Minute • Issue #10

The Next Wave of Density Is Hiding in the Details

This week, the biggest real estate story may not be a sale, a new listing, or a single development approval. It may be the quiet zoning changes that determine what can be built next.

What We’re Watching Over the Next Two Weeks

Across Groton, Waterford, Old Lyme, Stonington, and coastal Rhode Island, local boards are reviewing text amendments, planning updates, special permits, and zoning changes that could influence land values, housing supply, commercial corridors, and future development patterns.

Top Story

Groton’s proposed Open Space Common Interest Community text amendment.

Key Date

May 12, 2026 — multiple…

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Town Meeting Minute™ — Issue #8: The Filter on Future Supply

Posted by Tim Bray on April 12th, 2026

CT & RI Growth Watch — Investor Brief

Town Meeting Minute™ — Issue #8

The Filter on Future Supply

Produced by Seaport Real Estate Services

Before pricing moves, policy and infrastructure determine what is actually possible.

Real estate markets rarely move because of headlines. They move because of zoning changes, infrastructure decisions, development approvals, and environmental constraints that occur quietly at town halls and commission meetings.

This cycle, the clearest message across the shoreline is simple: future supply is not simply coming to market — it is being filtered.

Some towns are reviewing real housing applications. Some are reshaping the rules that govern future projects. Some are dealing with…

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