ORLEANS — For more than 15 years, townspeople have been taking the fate of their estuaries into their own hands. They've done this literally, by diligent collection of water samples from Nauset Marsh/Town Cove, Upper Pleasant Bay, Rock Harbor, and Namskaket and Little Namskaket marshes. The data were used by the Massachusetts Estuaries Project (MEP) to assess the health of these water bodies and played a par...

ORLEANS — Remember September? Cool breezes. Fewer traffic jams. A time when year-rounders are free to roam about the Cape. “My customers in Osterville, Cotuit, Sandwich, they'll take the ride in September,” said Sue Blake, owner of Main Street's Blake & Co. But will they if Main Street is under construction from Labor Day through Columbus Day? Those and similar concerns prompted Blake to circulate a p...

ORLEANS — Planning board members have already extended until Aug. 14 their public hearing on proposed marijuana zoning amendments, but the selectmen hope they'll extend it again to Aug. 28. That would give the selectmen an opportunity to present their take on both the planning board's bylaw version and one advanced by Selectman David Currier. “We're within 95 to 96 percent of where the planning board is righ...

ORLEANS — About 60 people packed a hearing room at town hall July 24 to talk about the planning board's proposed zoning bylaw amendments to regulate the sale, cultivation and other uses of marijuana. Although it wasn't part of the hearing agenda, Selectman David Currier was on hand to discuss his own proposed amendment, which is under review by town counsel. The back-and-forth made it clear that there's stil...

ORLEANS — When they meet Aug. 1 , the selectmen will be looking at proposed building and site evaluation contracts to help determine whether the Cape Cod Five Operations Center at 19 West Rd. can be reused as affordable apartments. Faced with a lack of options for housing, town meeting voted in May to create a new affordable housing trust and fund it with hundreds of thousands of dollars, some from Community...

ORLEANS — When they meet Aug. 1 , the selectmen will be looking at proposed building and site evaluation contracts to help determine whether the Cape Cod Five Operations Center at 19 West Rd. can be reused as affordable apartments. Faced with a lack of options for housing, town meeting voted in May to create a new affordable housing trust and fund it with hundreds of thousands of dollars, some from Community...

ORLEANS — This time, there were no shells flying over the dunes. A crowd gathered in the parking lot at Nauset Beach July 21 to commemorate the centennial of the only enemy gunfire to strike American soil in World War I. In 1918, a German submarine fired at a passing tug and its barges, with stray shells landing on shore. Selectmen Chairman Alan McClennen set the stage. “You all arrived on Beach Road,” he...

ORLEANS — Rather than plunge into a multi-million-dollar plan to preserve Nauset Beach uses, the selectmen will consider treading water for a year. Faced last week with two options presented by DPW/Natural Resources Director Tom Daley – reconstructing rest room and administration facilities in the parking lot or rebuilding up above on the Hubler property – the board asked its consultants to explore a third p...

ORLEANS — The most eloquent witness at last week's dog hearing never made a sound. Sitting placidly or resting on his side, Bear the dog let his human companion, Peter Christian, do the talking as the selectmen responded to complaints about Bear biting people in town. Just weeks before, the board ordered another dog euthanized. Animal control officer Duane Boucher detailed several incidents: a man bitten ...

ORLEANS – The Lower Cape is a place where people can spend $100 on a T-shirt, $200 on a kicky pair of sandals, and $12 on a cheeseburger. It is also where the Lower Cape Outreach Council spent an additional $95,000 on client services from January to May of this year, much of it trying to keep area residents in their homes. “The biggest area of expense is mortgages and rents,” said Larry Marsland, CEO of the Lo...

ORLEANS — Has the opportunity for a Lower Cape option for treating waste from septic systems come and gone? Not according to a 3-1 vote of the board of selectmen July 11 that reaffirmed the town's commitment to include a septage component in its planned wastewater treatment plant. Selectman Mark Mathison, who voted against the measure, said haulers have changed their business model since the Tri-Town plant i...

ORLEANS — Not everyone who sets up a recreational vehicle for a multi-day stay on Nauset Beach is retired. Some have obligations downtown. “If I have an RV out there and I work at night and have to leave the beach at 4 o'clock, I'd like to go back with my wife and kids after the end of my shift,” Selectman David Currier said at the July 11 meeting of his board, gathered as park commissioners. “They're curren...