ORLEANS – What looked on paper to be a simple committee reappointment evolved into a discussion about the future makeup of the town's community preservation committee last week. The select board ultimately voted 4-0 Oct. 6 to reappoint Sue Christie to the committee, but not without some discussion about what some members saw as the need for new voices on the CPC. The CPC has received criticism in recent wee...

ORLEANS - As town assessor, Brad Hinote is in regular conversation with buyers, sellers, real estate agents and other assessors from across the Cape. When it comes to the local real estate market over the past 18 months, the response from everyone he’s talked to has been consistent. “We’ve never seen anything like it.” The ongoing real estate boom has turned the local housing market on its ear, and Hinote p...

ORLEANS - A virtual meeting of the Nauset High School Building Committee came to an abrupt end last week after hackers interrupted and took control of the proceedings. The meeting, which was held via Zoom Sept. 29, was adjourned after less than 10 minutes when hackers took control of a presentation on plans for the high school renovation project. Representatives from Daedalus/CHA, the owner’s project manage...

ORLEANS — Wednesday, Sept. 29 was by any measure a typical day in the Orleans Health Department. Employees answered phones and helped customers, while Bob Canning, the town’s longtime health agent, sat at his desk in his office overlooking the parking lot outside of town hall. Of course, when Canning was hired in 1984, none of this existed. Looking back on his career in town, he can recall in vivid detail his ...

Cape Cod Chronicle publisher Henry C. Hyora this week announced the hiring of former Falmouth Enterprise and Cape Cod Times reporter and editor Ryan Bray as the paper's new Orleans reporter. Bray will cover Orleans full time beginning this week. He began covering the town in late summer after the retirement of Ed Maroney, who originated the Orleans beat for The Chronicle. “Ryan has been able to step in and ...

ORLEANS — Lacking the support of the community preservation committee, an article to secure $1 million for a proposed 14-unit affordable housing project at 107 Main St. will not go before voters at next month’s special town meeting. Alan McClennen, chairman of the affordable housing trust board, asked the select board Sept. 22 to withdraw the article from the warrant for the Oct. 25 session. The affordable hou...

ORLEANS — The select board on Sept. 22 gave their approval to rate and fee increases for the town’s water and recreation departments, including a 4 percent water rate increase. Under the new water rates, which will go into effect Oct. 1, users will be issued a basic service charge of $54 per quarter, up from the current basic quarterly rate of $52. Assistant Water Superintendent Susan Brown said that apart ...

ORLEANS – The select board voted 4-0  Sept. 22 to recommend in favor of sewer use rules and regulations, although board members pressed Tom Daley, the town’s public works director, to provide more specific information for residents preparing to connect to town sewer. The board of water and sewer commissioners voted to adopt the rules and regulations ahead of the select board’s meeting. The rules and regulation...

ORLEANS – The community preservation committee last week declined to support bonding $1 million of its funding for the 107 Main St. project, leaving the select board to decide the source of the money needed to meet the town's share of the cost of converting the former Masonic Lodge to affordable housing. The board's options include placing a general borrowing article on the Oct. 25 special town meeting warrant...

ORLEANS — What if Cape Cod as a whole was a mindful community? With that thought in mind, Fiona Jensen started Calmer Choice in 2010. Now, 11 years later, the nonprofit’s founder is ready to hand over the reins to a new CEO at the beginning of the year. Calmer Choice, based in South Yarmouth, has brought emotional and wellness support programming to more than 35 schools in the state over the past decade, in...

ORLEANS – Is it possible to learn some new information about an event that happened nearly 400 years ago?  When it comes to the vessel Sparrow Hawk, shipwrecked in 1626 on Nauset beach off the Old Inlet in Orleans, there is definitely more to learn.  Dr. Calvin Mires, a maritime archaeologist and research associate at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will be on hand on Thursday night, Sept. 30 at 7 p....

How rare are orange lobsters? Paul Davis has been a commercial lobsterman for 12 years, and the orange lobster he pulled out of a trap just east of Nauset Beach Sept. 7 was the first time he'd seen one of that color. “I've never seen anyone else catch one,” he added. Orange isn't the rarest color found in lobsters – that would be white or albino lobsters, which strictly speaking is a lack of color – but ...