CHATHAM — Saying they are hopeful a legal settlement can be reached with a group of Stage Neck property owners, selectmen last week tabled a town meeting article seeking to reaffirm a controversial 1997 road taking. Following a closed-door session with town counsel, selectmen voted unanimously to indefinitely postpone action on a warrant article which would have confirmed the 1997 taking of easements for por...

CHATHAM – Peter Connick will become chief of a fire department that, it could be argued, is at the top of its game. With a long-awaited new fire station opened last year, a new ladder truck parked in one of its bays and two new engines on the way, and a full staff, “frankly, we're at a really good place now,” said Connick. Town Manager Jill Goldsmith announced Connick's appointment in a memo to the board of...

CHATHAM – Is a rental registration bylaw the right way to collect data about residential water use? That was one of the central disagreements among members of the board of selectmen last week during their first review of a draft residential rental licensing bylaw. Ultimately board members agreed the measure needed more input from both the public and town boards and they decided not to place it before voters at...

CHATHAM – Another round of sewer funding – this time for $31 million – will go before voters at the May annual town meeting. The money will cover the next phase in the town's 20-year wastewater project and include replacement of a section of sewer main downtown that was part of the original sewer system installed more than 40 years ago. Most of the money will be used to install sewers along the Route 137 corri...

BARNSTABLE — After waiting on the edge for years, the legal battle between skydive opponents and the town of Chatham just got a shove. Last week, Barnstable Superior Court Judge Gary Nickerson set a Dec. 4 trial date for the suit filed against the town by the Citizens for a Safe Chatham Airport. Skydive opponents, who were arguing for a preliminary injunction to block the issuance of any skydiving contracts ...

CHATHAM – The human skull found on the grounds of the Atwood House Museum in December was initially found more than two years ago on the outer beach. The new information was revealed this week about the skull, which apparently belonged to a Native American and was more than 100 years old. Its discovery by landscapers doing fall cleanup work on Dec. 9 generated considerable interest locally and regionally. “...

CHATHAM – Members of the Aunt Lydia's Cove committee won't get a say in how money that will be collected into a new waterways user fee revolving fund will be expended. The waterways user fee revolving fund, which will be established in an article in the May 8 annual town meeting, is expected to collect some $300,000 annually from the new waterways user fee and fish pier docking permit, lease and fuel pier reve...

CHATHAM – Effective March 31, Deputy Fire Chief Peter Connick will be the town's new fire chief. Town Manager Jill Goldsmith announced Connick's appointment to the board of selectmen Wednesday. Under the town's charter, the appointment is provisional, and becomes effective 15 days after the notification, unless a majority of the board votes to reject it within that time. Connick will success Fire Chief Michael...

CHATHAM — After more than a century watching over the east end of downtown Chatham, the landmark Eldredge Garage building has been razed. On Monday, a small crew using an excavator tore down the large barn piece by piece, pulling aside scrap metal and salvageable timbers for recycling. By the end of the day Monday, about two-thirds of the structure had been demolished, and work was suspended Tuesday because ...

 Strong Winds, High Seas Batter Lower Cape      CHATHAM — Though barely a flake of snow fell, Tuesday's strong storm downed scores of limbs and trees and tore up east-facing portions of the shoreline with high surf.  The afternoon high tide inundated low-lying coastal areas, flooded portions of Old Wharf Road in North Chatham and splashed over Route 28 in East Harwich and South Orleans. Winds...

During World War II, Leo Vernon Eldredge sent periodic letters to local men serving overseas. One of the men he corresponded with was his friend Edwin W. Taylor, father of Selectman Seth Taylor. Edwin Taylor saved the letters sent to him by “LV” and brought them home with him after serving in the South Pacific. Seth Taylor recently shared one of those letters, printed here, which he said “discusses or adds some ...

CHATHAM – The iconic windmill on Briggs Way overlooking Chatham Harbor took a little trip the other day. Crews from Sylvester Building Movers wrested the 77-year-old windmill from its stone foundation and ever-so-carefully and slowly transported it a short distance away to a corner of the property. The windmill – never a working mill but built as a summer home by Herbert Briggs in about 1930 – is under a de...