CHATHAM – The conservation commission has referred the removal of 62 trees from a coastal bank without a permit to the state department of environmental protection for enforcement. The trees, some of which were 24 inches in diameter, were removed on June 2 from the coastal bank at 107 Taylor's Pond Rd., overlooking Mill Creek. The property is owned by 107 Taylor's Pond Road Real Estate Trust, which lists Byran...

CHATHAM – Selectmen Monday authorized the expenditure of $2.6 million to rebuild the Eldredge trap dock on Stage Harbor. In a move that likely reflects ongoing problems with the fish pier observation deck construction, officials rejected the low bidder on the project, instead opting to go with the second lowest bidder. The town purchased the trap dock from the Eldredge family in 2016 for $1.3 million to pre...

CHATHAM – Even as the Castle in the Clouds playground at Harwich Elementary School was being demolished, work was ramping up on a new playground at Chatham Elementary School. The new community playground is the culmination of a years-long process to improve the play areas on the east side of the Depot Road school and included upgrading drainage and installing irrigation. Work began a few weeks ago on the main ...

CHATHAM – In the late 1960s and early '70s, the sand pit off Middle Road was the scene of dune buggy races every Sunday. Crowds came to cheer as local drivers races around the dirt track in custom-built vehicles that made up in power what they lacked in beauty. The sand pit may be generating a different kind of power if a plan to develop solar photovoltaic array on the property wins approval. NextGrid, a na...

CHATHAM – Rejecting the town-owned Marconi property, selectmen Monday night voted unanimously to pursue the purchase of a private parcel on Main Street in West Chatham as the location for a new senior center. Selectmen favored the parcel at 1610 Main St., owned by Eastward Companies, to take the place of the current senior center on Stony Hill Road, which council on aging officials say is too small for its exi...

Rejecting the town-owned Marconi property, selectmen Monday night voted unanimously to pursue the purchase of a private parcel on Main Street in West Chatham as the location for a new senior center. Selectmen favored the parcel at 1610 Main St., owned by Eastward Companies, to take the place of the current senior center on Stony Hill Road, which council on aging officials say is too small for its existing prog...

CHATHAM – A sign posted at the front desk of the Chatham Agway store reassures customers that the ducks that live on the pond in front of the Main Street garden center aren't being harmed during restoration work on the small body of water. People still ask about the ducks, store employees say, but in fact, although they remain on site during the work, it's had little impact on them. When heavy equipment is ope...

CHATHAM – The staff at Broad Reach Hospice and Palliative Care were well aware of Eugene “Gene” Peterson's background as a Navy and commercial airline pilot. When he expressed a desire to fly again, his care staff went into action. Susan Eenigenburg, the Hospice chaplain, social worker Jenna Good-Fantini and hospice nurse case manager Teri Reilly met with Administrator Carla Torres and told her about Peterson'...

This is the second of a two-part series on the Chatham Airport Master Plan Update. CHATHAM – The future needs of Chatham Municipal Airport outlined in the draft master plan update depend on the growth of the facility over the next 20 years. To forecast that growth, airport planners had to choose from a number of formulas that examine future aviation demand. Some of the formulas, most based on similar gene...

CHATHAM – For nearly a decade, the housing authority, in partnership with the town, has administered a unique housing program that allows tenants to save half their monthly rent toward a downpayment on a house of their own. Two homes in the program are now available, and a lottery will be held next month to choose new tenants. Under the housing authority's MCI Rental/Housing Savings Program, half of the monthl...

CHATHAM – An error in the installation of natural gas lines will set the Route 28 West Chatham Roadway Project back by at least four months. Gas lines along about 900 feet of roadway, where the two roundabouts are to be built at the intersections of Barn Hill Road and George Ryder Road, were not installed to the required depth. Rather than tear up the existing gas lines and replace them at the correct depth, o...

More than two-thirds of the Cape’s coastal waterways and more than a third of its freshwater ponds are suffering from poor water quality, according to the “State of the Waters” report recently released by the Association to Preserve Cape Cod. But they acknowledge that Lower Cape towns have made important strides toward reducing nutrient pollution, and that it will take time for that work to start showing results....