CHATHAM — By a solid margin, voters at Saturday’s special town meeting approved spending $75,000 for a feasibility study for a new council on aging building on Stepping Stones Road. But because the land is under the control of the Monomoy Regional School Committee, which has voted against releasing it back to the town, it remains unclear where – or if – a new senior center might be built. The vote count was...

CHATHAM – What will the town's demographics look like in 25 years? That's one of the key questions posed in a recent report on housing issued by the finance committee's community housing working group. READ THE FULL REPORT HERE “Will we be a vibrant, thriving and hard-working community comprising a range of age, race, family size, income, occupational prospects and other demographics? Or shall we conti...

CHATHAM – Town officials are defending their proposal to add new positions to next year's budget, saying increasing workloads, along with new federal workplace requirements, are making it difficult to meet the level of services expected by residents. “We're hitting a point where we're stressing the workload capacity of our employees,” Town Manager Jill Goldsmith told selectmen last week. While staff members ar...

CHATHAM – The Monomoy Regional School Committee voted unanimously Thursday not to give up middle school land along Stepping Stones Road where some residents want to see a senior center built. A group of residents petitioned for a special town meeting, scheduled for Saturday, March 7, to seek money for a feasibility study of the two-acre parcel, which lies between the road and the Old Colony Bike Trail, as an a...

CHATHAM – National Grid will reinstall 1,700 feet of gas lines along Route 28 at the proper depth to accommodate the reconstruction of the roadway along the West Chatham business corridor. “It looks like it could be happening starting in two weeks,” Public Works Director Tom Temple told selectmen Monday. He met earlier in the day with representatives from National Grid, the Massachusetts Department of Transpor...

CHATHAM – The town has been designated a Green Community by the state department of energy resources, making it eligible for grant money to pursue energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Town staff are currently assembling a grant proposal specifying how the $134,620 award will be used. The focus will be on high-priority building projects identified as part of the Green Community Program's energy redu...

CHATHAM – There are more millionaires in the town at the Cape's elbow than any other community on the Lower Cape. Only two Cape towns, Falmouth and Barnstable, have more millionaires than Chatham. That's according to state department of revenue data which lists the number of residents whose adjusted gross income was more than $1 million on tax filings. That's income, not assets, meaning those listed had earnin...

CHATHAM –The finance committee voted Thursday afternoon to support the March 7 special town meeting article calling for a study of land on Stepping Stones Road as a possible home for a new senior center. Selectmen on Tuesday voted unanimously against the article (see story below), voicing their support instead for building a senior center at 1610 Main St., land that is being donated to the town by William Mars...

CHATHAM — After it faced criticism for not encouraging enough public participation in its update of the airport master plan, the airport commission has scheduled three special public meetings specifically to focus on parts of the plan.  In addition to the review of specific airport plan chapters during their regular public meetings, the committee is inviting citizens to attend three informal small-group sessio...

HARWICH — Without taking a formal vote, Monomoy Regional School Committee members made it clear last week that they’re not excited at the prospect of providing the town of Chatham with access to 1.5 acres off Stepping Stones Road for a new senior center. Meeting on Feb. 11, the committee discussed the possibility of declaring as surplus the parcel of land between Stepping Stones Road and the Old Colony Rail Ta...

CHATHAM — The U.S. Coast Guard has abandoned plans to remove the lighted whistle buoy “C” that marks the entrance to Chatham Harbor. The news was announced last week by the Coast Guard, which had previously argued that the navigational aid was too difficult to keep on its station in high winds and heavy seas. The Coast Guard pledged to “pursue other additional mooring configurations to help better keep th...

CHATHAM – There is a level of “institutional stress” underlying next year's proposed town budget that may indicate it's time to step back, look at priorities and “take our foot off the gas,” according to a report from the finance committee. The fincom had a “qualitatively different response to the budget” this year rather than the usual quantitative approach, Chairman Stephen Daniel told selectmen last week. R...