CHATHAM — It’s not exactly high praise, but given the pandemic and the economic disaster it spawned, the summer of 2020 could’ve been worse. The visitor economy was buoyed by day-trippers and longer-term visitors who came from places within driving range to the Lower Cape. One metric of activity in downtown Chatham is the use of the paid parking lot at the former Eldredge Garage property. Chatham Valet ran ...

Nearly two dozen students who are living in summer homes or staying with grandparents are attending classes in the Monomoy Regional School District this fall. But that increase in new students is more than offset by declines in enrollment, including the loss of 55 students whose families opted for home schooling rather than attending classes in-person or remotely. The district's total enrollment this fall drop...

CHATHAM – Two Chatham firefighters tested positive for COVID-19 following department-wide testing Monday. All members of the department were tested, along with employees of the harbormaster department and Monomoy Regional School district, after the daughter and mother-in-law of a firefighter tested positive ( see separate story ). It did not appear that the two firefighters who tested positive were not conn...

CHATHAM — A student at Monomoy Regional High School tested positive for COVID-19 last week, forcing an unknown number of students and staff to be placed in quarantine for two weeks and prompting a new round of coronavirus testing. Superintendent of Schools Scott Carpenter said school officials were notified of the positive test Friday night. The student does not appear to have contracted the virus at school, h...

CHATHAM — The health board is considering an emergency order requiring the town to publicize the names of restaurants where people have tested positive for COVID-19. Without violating the privacy of individuals who have been diagnosed with the illness, the board is seeking to inform the dining public when restaurants in town report COVID-19 cases. Restaurants are already required to notify the health departm...

CHATHAM — If you haven’t completed the U.S. Census yet, Selectmen Chairman Shareen Davis has 144 million reasons for you to do so. “It is important to fill out the census not for today but for the future,” she said. The town stands to lose $2,400 per resident who does not answer the census. In all, 6,000 year-round residents bring the town $14.4 million in federal funding annually, amounting to $144 million ...

CHATHAM – Seals have been a common sight in Aunt Lydia's Cove for years, popping their heads above the water and swimming about as they wait for a snack to tumble over the side of a fishing boat. But this summer it was different. Beginning in July, gray seals, sometimes numbering in the low hundreds, began hauling out on sand flats on the inside of Tern Island, opposite the fish pier. And instead of a few s...

CHATHAM – Form-based code, a method of zoning that, as the name suggestions, emphasizes form over use, may have gained some adherents Monday during a planning board forum on the West Chatham neighborhood center. Following the recommendations of the Cape Cod Commission, the planning board has been dabbling in form-based code as it considers zoning changes to the neighborhood center, the second of four along Rou...

A new wave of COVID-19 cases coinciding with the flu season is a nightmare scenario that officials are hoping to avoid by encouraging all residents to get flu vaccinations as soon as possible. “A dual outbreak of flu and COVID-19 will put a serious strain on our healthcare capacity,” State Senator Julian Cyr said. Gov. Charlie Baker called the need for people to get flu vaccinations “more important than eve...

CHATHAM — With peak summer visitor season in the rearview mirror, utility crews have returned to Route 28 in West Chatham to resume work on the roadway reconstruction project. Public Works Director Tom Temple told selectmen Tuesday that National Grid resumed work on Sept. 8 and aims to restore natural gas connections to 11 properties in the area by the end of the month. Verizon expects to complete its work b...

CHATHAM – Friends of Chatham Waterways (FCW) Water Watchers recently completed their 21st season of collecting water samples and data for Chatham's Coastal Water Nutrient Monitoring Program. From 15 sampling stations in Chatham, 42 volunteers used refractometers to measure water salinity, Secchi disks to measure water depth, dissolved oxygen meters to record water temperature and dissolved oxygen levels, an...

CHATHAM – For the past several months, anyone who wanted a marriage license had to pass papers to the town clerk through an open window. New committee members have been sworn in on the steps of the town offices. Dropping off or picking up of plans, permits, tax payments and other documents at the annex has been done via a drop box, like spies passing clandestine documents in the night. That ends this week, whe...