1980s beach homes, teardowns and a suburban west side
The town's 2023 Comprehensive Plan describes two Bethanys. East of Route 1, beach homes sit in a grid on modestly sized lots, and small summer cottages keep giving way to larger beach homes. West of Route 1, around Bethany West, the streets curve and the lots get larger.
About a third of Bethany's homes were built in the 1980s and about half between 1970 and 1989. A door original to one of those houses predates the 2021 International Residential Code rule that a garage door carry a permanent label showing its design wind pressure. Rebuilding is steady, too: the town issued 29 construction permits and 15 demolition permits in 2022.
The town licenses any home rented at any time of year, and the 2020 American Community Survey put Bethany's vacancy rate at 82.4 percent, a figure the plan attributes mainly to seasonal and summer rental homes. A garage that sits shut all winter deserves a spring and opener check before the first renters arrive.





