CHATHAM — With the weather feeling decidedly more spring-like, people are getting out their bicycles, dusting them off and hitting the pavement. But town officials have had bikes on the brain for the last year or so, and have unveiled an ambitious bicycle master plan that recommends millions of dollars of improvements over the coming years. “The heart of the plan is a list of 25 discrete projects,” bikeways ...

CHATHAM – For the first time in the more than two decades it has sponsored candidate forums centered on the annual town election, the League of Women Voters of the Cape Cod Area has cancelled a planned debate. That leaves a single event, a forum sponsored by the Chatham Alliance for Preservation and Conservation scheduled for May 2, for voters to hear the five candidates for the board of selectmen discuss and ...

It’s just after 5 p.m. on a blustery Wednesday in April and director Elsa Bastone’s cast of “A Nostalgic Return to the Golden Age of Radio” is holding a tech rehearsal downstairs in the Forgeron Room of the Eldredge Public Library. The premise for the group's April 29 event at the library is that it is broadcasting from radio station WEPL and the Cape Cod Theatre of the Air. Five actors and two sound effects t...

CHATHAM — Residents will have one more opportunity this week to sound out on the new consolidated waterways regulations before they are finalized and presented to selectmen. A sparsely attended public hearing on March 22 was continued to Thursday, April 26 at 5 p.m. at the community center. After that session, officials will finalize the 54-page document before presenting it to selectmen. The draft reg...

CHATHAM – A demolition delay application has been filed for the stately, iconic home at the corner of Shore Road and Seaview Street that once belonged the late noted geographer Harm de Blij. Owners Ronald and Ann Cami of San Francisco, who bought the 233 Seaview St. property in 2012 for $3.6 million, will go before the historical commission on Tuesday, May 1. According to application filed by Harwich attorn...

Since the Cape Cod National Seashore was created in 1961, there’s been one official conduit through which citizens and town governments could share concerns about the national park: the National Seashore Advisory Commission. Silenced for more than a year by a federal review, the commission has at last been given permission to hold a meeting. But experts say the future of the commission remains unclear, caught ...

Next Sunday, April 22, is Earth Day, the 48 th year of the celebration of the planet. A number of events are being planned in the area to mark the occasion. On Saturday, April 21, “Love Thy Nature” will be screened at the Chatham Orpheum Theater. Narrated by Liam Neeson, the film explores how we’ve lost touch with nature and looks at how a renewed connection with nature is key both to good health and to solvi...

ORLEANS — Barring any tricks from Mother Nature, off-road vehicles will have access to North (Nauset) Beach this summer under a joint management agreement between Chatham and Orleans. After months of stalemate, and with less than three weeks remaining until the current agreement expires, Chatham and Orleans selectmen approved a one-year beach management agreement last Wednesday. With Chatham selectmen in ...

CHATHAM – The German occupation of the Netherlands in 1940 seemed civilized, initially. The Dutch continued, at least superficially, to run the country, and life on many levels continued as before. “At first we hardly knew they were there,” Jerry Karter said. Other than hunger – there was never enough to eat – for a child, it was “an exciting time,” added Arend Vos. But as the war wore on, life became more and...

Revenue Needed To Fund Infrastructure Improvements CHATHAM – A proposed change in the way water use is billed will increase the cost of town water between 10 and 37 percent for most households and businesses. The rate changes eliminate the current allowance of 1,000 cubic feet of water use in the basic residential minimum charge, substituting a lower minimum charge that covers the operating costs of the wat...

Long-sought Revenue Source Likely To Go Into Effect In 2019 With the backing of both the state Senate and House, it appears as if the extension of the room occupancy excise tax to include short-term room and home rentals is a done deal. Both houses of the legislature have passed bills authorizing the short-term rental tax, which would apply to summer home rentals of less than 90 days, as well as Air BnB-typ...

CHATHAM – In 1968, two and a half years after Lady Bird Johnson initiated her national beautification program, the women of the newly-formed Chatham Garden Club began to beautify Chatham by planting flowers, ornamental grasses and flowering trees. Armed with trowels, gardening gloves and watering cans, the women tended plantings in traffic islands and window boxes. And half a century later, garden club members...