ORLEANS — The Academy Playhouse is staging its greatest production yet – a $4 million fund-raising campaign to upgrade and expand its theater and school. The historic features of the grand old building at the top of the hill off Main Street, built by shipwrights to serve as town hall, will be preserved while modern touches such an elevator, an adequate number of restrooms, and a full basement will be added. ...

ORLEANS — It's not often that the selectmen are asked to impose the death penalty. “Humane euthanization” was among the statutory alternatives for the board to consider Dec. 20 at a dog complaint hearing requested by Robert Swanson of 25 Lowell Dr. On Aug. 27, he was walking on that street when he saw Katherine Gulotta, of 16 Lowell Dr., walking a dog on a retractable leash. To avoid the dog, which he sai...

CHATHAM – Saying she was not able to give the job the time it deserves, Amanda Love resigned from the board of selectmen Tuesday. In a Jan. 2 letter to Chairman of Selectmen Cory Metters, Love said to be an effective board member, “one needs to devote many, many more hours than I am able to give as one who works full time and who is also enrolled in continuing education.” She said she was resigning “with regre...

CHATHAM -- The weather was below freezing but spirits were warm for the town's annual First Night celebration. Organizers were pleased with the turnout, even though buttons, which usually sell out, were still available as of 6 p.m. First Night Committee Chairman Ron Clark said the noontime annual town photo was more crowded than anticipated, although there were fewer people around downtown in the afternoon ...

ORLEANS -- On his last day of work at Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank, David Willard feasted on the chocolate doughnut named in his honor at the Hole-In-One in Orleans (available in Eastham, too). Recalling that Willard always brought doughnuts to the many non-profit board meetings he attended as the bank's director of community relations, Richard Brothers, the retired president and CEO of Cape and Islands Un...

CHATHAM – Selectmen voted Tuesday to endorse bylaws prohibiting the retail sale of recreational marijuana in town. The vote was not unanimous, however. Selectman Shareen voted to oppose a general bylaw banning retail pot sales because she thought it was too broadly worded. Along with retail marijuana sales, the bylaw bans marijuana cultivators, testing laboratories and product manufacturers. Those activitie...

CHATHAM – The town's shoreline has always been dynamic, but the fallout from changes in 2017 is likely to be felt for years, perhaps decades to come. “This has been an active year,” said Coastal Resources Director Ted Keon. It was a bit of a “double whammy,” he said, with changes on both eastern and southern shorelines. As the town heads into 2018, plans are underway for a large-scale, two-year dredging and...

CHATHAM – The developer of a 13-lot subdivision off Barn Hill Road will offer to include a buffer along the southern boundary to protect a steep bank from eroding. William Riley, the attorney for developer Eastward Companies, said a 15-foot buffer will be added to the Hunter Rise subdivision as a concession to neighbors who worried about erosion and runoff along the bank, which backs up to several lots along O...

CHATHAM – Although he was “a bit” disappointed not to meet Queen Elizabeth, Chatham resident Michael Tompsett did get to meet Prince Charles during a recent award ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Tompsett was one of four recipients of the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, which the native Brit was given for his contribution to digital imagine. Working at the AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1973, Tompsett took...

CHATHAM – It's been a year of contrasts, with significant changes along the town's waterfront, in its town government and within the community. Overall, however, Chatham managed to avoid major crises during 2017 while making progress in a number of major areas, including disputes over the western boundary of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge and skydiving, moving forward with plans to improve waterfront infras...

CHATHAM — If you’ve got nothing else planned for Sunday night, how about ringing in 2018 with a few thousand close friends? First Night Chatham, the only first night east of Sandwich, sports a 1960s theme this year and is revved up and ready for fun. The family-friendly New Year’s Eve party starts Sunday afternoon and continues with music, dance and artistic fun right up until midnight, when the event ends w...

100-year-old Home Within Proposed Stage Harbor Road Historic District by Tim Wood CHATHAM – Even though it was determined to be historically significant, a Stage Harbor Road home was cleared for demolition by the zoning board of appeals last week. It remains uncertain whether the proposal to raze the nearly 100-year-old house at 391 Stage Harbor Rd. will be referred to the Cape Cod Commission by the hi...

In the years and decades ahead, many Lower Cape residents will see new sewer lines being installed in their neighborhoods, part of efforts to meet state-mandated limits on nutrient pollution. And while they can expect to collectively spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build those systems, they’ll also have to spend several thousand dollars each to connect their homes. To that end, Barnstable County offic...

CHATHAM — With just a few days remaining in 2017, selectmen last week signed papers taking ownership of the former Eldredge Garage property. The year saw voters spending $2.5 million for one of the town’s most significant land purchases; the demolition of a historic building that was, for years, a downtown landmark; and the first dialogue about a new vision for the property. The story actually began in 2016,...

HARWICH — The town is considering drafting a request for proposals for a long-term lease to establish a restaurant on the knoll overlooking Saquatucket Harbor. The town has received one inquiry interested in a public/private partnership to build an eatery at the town-owned marina. As part of the initial landside development plan now underway, a small restaurant or snack shack had been considered, but funding f...