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...

ORLEANS — Today (Dec. 3) at 4:30 p.m., the community preservation committee will begin sifting through more than 20 requests for funding, including $2 million to help acquire the former Cape Cod Five operations center for community housing. Among other requests on the list is the recreation advisory committee’s “Orleans Outdoors” initiative, a $189,636 package covering amenities from bike and kayak racks to ba...

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” is how Nauset Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Conrad might sum up the past few months in the school system that has been profoundly changed by the coronavirus pandemic. “With change comes change. Do not be afraid of it,” are words that Conrad frequently speaks to his staff. Conrad gave the keynote speech during the Orleans Chamber of Commerce’s 31st annual m...

“We are in a moment right now where it has never been more apparent that housing equals health care,” Andrea Aldana, director of Housing Advocacy for Community Development Partnership (CDP), said last week during an Orleans Citizens forum on affordable housing. “Our ability to control the pandemic is really closely tied to access to safe, decent and affordable housing that allows people to shelter in place and pr...

ORLEANS – This Thanksgiving, one of the most difficult aspects of the coronavirus pandemic is that many extended families cannot sit at the same table to eat, laugh and reminisce. The isolation can hit seniors particularly hard. In senior living centers, visits are prohibited or kept short to protect elder loved ones from the virus. Seniors can’t hug family members and can’t cradle newborns in their laps. B...

ORLEANS — With two outdoor town meetings and one presidential balloting behind them, voters will be asked to make one more set of decisions in 2020 on Tuesday, Dec. 1. That’s when a special town election will determine whether the town moves ahead on a feasibility study for the renovation and/or expansion of the aged and inadequate fire station, the planned purchase of a new pumper truck, and continuing preparati...

The Cape Cod Chronicle won the Orleans Chamber of Commerce’s 2020 Small Business of the Year Award, given during the chamber’s 31st annual meeting held virtually on Nov. 17. “Thank you for all you do for the Orleans community,” the chamber’s incoming chair Judy Lindahl of Nauset Marine said in announcing the award. She added that the paper supports the chamber, businesses, non-profits, and civic and community ...

ORLEANS — Back in 2016, the town paid $500,000 for a property at 141 Portanimicut Rd. that included a beach, marshland, and a house. The purpose for the purchase was open space and recreation, but for a few years the house was used as a satellite natural resources office. More recently, the 141 Portanimicut Rd. Task Force, appointed by the conservation commission, has been working on a land management plan for...