ORLEANS — Who isn’t running for town offices next May is as interesting as who is. After many years on the elementary school committee, Josh Stewart won’t run again. He’ll remain on the regional committee. The three incumbents whose seats on the library board of trustees are up for election – Carolyn Dowd, Mary Beth Fincke, and Mary Reuland – will have served two consecutive three-year terms and will have to...

ORLEANS — “The story of 2019 is how different it was from 2018.” Darn. We should have saved last year’s lead for this year’s annual round-up. In 2020, a pandemic swept the world like a nor’easter that wouldn’t quit. Every day, it blew down another familiar part of the landscape: in-classroom learning, committee meetings at town hall, the day program at the senior center, the annual police block party, the...

ORLEANS — Pennrose LLC’s plan to create 62 units of mixed income and affordable housing at the former Cape Cod Five operations center underwent an informal review by the site plan review committee Dec. 16. There were compliments for the effort but some concerns as well. “This is an awesome project, very much welcomed by the fire department,” said Fire Inspector Greg Baker. “We’re looking forward to a large c...

ORLEANS — “Wastewater TP” doesn’t mean what you think it does. When consultants recommended this week that Orleans “consider reduction of wastewater TP as the most reliable approach to attain restoration of water quality in Crystal Lake,” they weren’t referring to toilet paper but to “total phosphorus” flowing from septic systems to the lake and creating phytoplankton blooms. That’s a big reason the state...

ORLEANS — Even on a cold and windy day, their warm feelings about the Main Street Reconstruction and Village Center Streetscape project came through. Planning and Community Development Director George Meservey and DPW/Natural Resources Director Tom Daley took another close-up look last week at the results of a years-long effort to reorder traffic flow and provide amenities such as seating and pocket parks on t...

ORLEANS — The consultant retained to answer questions about the potential re-use of the Governor Prence Motel had plenty of her own for town leaders last week. The select board, affordable housing committee, and affordable housing trust board met Dec. 10 with Judi Barrett, owner and managing director of Barrett Planning Group LLC. “Who’s struggling to stay in Orleans?” she asked. “What kinds of households, age...

NORTH EASTHAM — Traditional town meetings next spring may not be a sure thing, but one thing is certain: the Massachusetts School Building Authority is not offering an extension beyond May 31 for its financial support of a redeveloped Nauset Regional High School. With a $36 million state contribution to the $132 million project on the line, the regional school committee voted last week to abandon plans to brin...

ORLEANS — As December began, COVID-19 cases climbed to 31 confirmed and 13 probable, “quite a jump for Orleans,” health agent Bob Canning told the select board. Fire Chief Geof Deering reported that three members of the department were exposed to the virus during an emergency call and are quarantining; tests are negative. “We have seven active cases in Orleans today,” Canning told the select board Dec. 2. “We’...

ORLEANS — Even as contractors are digging into downtown streets to install sewer pipes and excavating the foundation for a wastewater treatment facility, town officials are digging into the details of the second phase of the massive project: designing and building a collection system to remove all the nitrogen in Meetinghouse Pond. The town is under a mandate to reach a Total Maximum Daily Load of zero in the ...

ORLEANS — “Nearly every usable piece of land owned by the Town of Orleans is being used for a public purpose,” Director of Planning and Community Development George Meservey reported in a letter to Town Administrator John Kelly last month. At the select board’s Nov. 18 meeting, the planner reviewed three of those properties: the former American Legion Hall across from town hall at 139 Main St., the former highway...

ORLEANS — Voters agreed Tuesday to proceed with a renovation/expansion feasibility study of the fire station, the purchase of a new pumper truck, and the expenditure on design and permitting for dredging work in Nauset Estuary and Pleasant Bay. Turnout was 25 percent for the special election held to exempt the measures, which had been backed at the Oct. 31 town meeting, as debt exclusions from the tax levy l...

ORLEANS — After just his first meeting as a member of the state’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission, commercial fisherman Bill Amaru had good news for fellow supporters of dredging Nauset Estuary. “We are going to discuss a new survey of fish stocks in the estuaries where dredging will be taking place to see if the window for dredging can be expanded,” Amaru wrote in an email. “Certain species that were abu...