ORLEANS — Thirty-five years ago, Chatham Town Counsel Frank Shealey rose in Barnstable Superior Court to declare that the town “since time immemorial has been a seacoast town. Other than for tourism, fishing is our largest industry. The fishermen have a pier and a mooring...that's all. The restraints were addressed in the bylaw which allows lobster pots to be stored under home occupation with issuance of a spec...

ORLEANS — The old highway department complex on Bay Ridge Lane looks like an estate sale waiting to happen. More than a patina – call it an encrustation – of age has settled in many of the buildings. In one garage, there's a hulking generator that appears to date back to the Model T assembly line. “When they run it in the winter, they have to keep the garage doors open 18 inches,” said Tom Daley, the town's ...

ORLEANS — In its search for the perfect blend of free market encouragement and community character protection, the planning board is rolling out two revised draft zoning bylaw amendments to regulate marijuana establishments. The first addresses all uses, while the second would amend the first to allow cultivation in residential areas. At the board's Aug. 14 public hearing, members agreed by consensus on what...

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 ...