CHATHAM – With the board of selectmen slated to discuss the impact of seals – and sharks – on the town's beaches, fishing industry and economy next Tuesday, scientists say the issues are being clouded by misinformation and speculation about both species. Some residents have sounded alarms about the increasing seal population and the resulting attraction of great white sharks to Cape waters. They say they are a...

CHATHAM — Environmental technicians found themselves up the creek last week, looking at marsh grass and other vegetation. Consultants from the Horsley Witten Group spent Thursday and Friday examining and photographing the vegetation just inside Muddy Creek as part of an effort to track changes in the waterway's flora following the installation of the Route 28 bridge two years ago. While the results from t...

CHATHAM – There's no disagreement about the need for a new upweller to grow out quahog and other shellfish seed vital to the town's commercial shellfishing industry, which is the most valuable wild shellfishery in the state, according to Shellfish Constable Renee Gagne. And the small town-owned parcel on Bridge Street adjacent to the Mitchell River appears to be the best spot for a new building to replacing the a...

CHATHAM – The planning board approved the town's latest housing production plan last week. The document will now to go the board of selectmen for its endorsement before being submitted to the state for certification. An update of the town's 2013 housing production plan, the document provides strategies for reaching the goal of having 10 percent of the town's year-round housing stock classified as affordable. C...

CHATHAM — Last weekend’s coastal storm, the first of the fall and winter season, caused only minor splash-over flooding in typically vulnerable neighborhoods. But it might have been the first volley in a messy skirmish with Mother Nature. The storm was the remnants of Hurricane Willa, a Category 5 hurricane that made landfall on the Pacific coast of Mexico before reentering the Gulf of Mexico and streaming u...

CHATHAM — Searching for that Goldilocks spot that has adequate parking and a convenient location, selectmen Monday reviewed four potential sites for a new senior center. The spots – off Middle Road, near Volunteer Park, behind the community center and on the Stony Hill Road site of the current center – each have pluses and minuses. Ahead of a planned decision on Nov. 26, selectmen heard analysis by architect...

CHATHAM -- Storm-driven waves flanked a new sand dune meant to protect the Little Beach area from flooding on Saturday, as winds gusted to more than 50 miles per hour and heavy rain pelted the region.   Water flowed around the north side of the new dune and into a low area adjacent to condos on Seagull Lane.  The sand was placed along the stretch of beach in front of the condos as a short-term measure whi...

Cape Cod's housing market is a victim of its own success. “We're known around the country as a safe investment,” said Alisa Magnotta Galazzi, CEO of the Housing Assistance Corporation. That's led to a steady increase in seasonal homes – 5,000 in the last six years – and a loss of some 3,000 year-round units in the same period, she said. That trend is a major contributor to the shortage of year-round housing...

CHATHAM – After the loss of a couple of historic homes on Stage Harbor Road, and with slim prospects of saving at least two others currently under demolition delays, the news that the owners of two other old homes on the street are working to preserve their structures came as a welcome relief to members of the historical commission. Both homes are within the area that the Massachusetts Historical Commission ha...

EAST HARWICH — Sheila Smith, the longtime advertising sales manager at The Cape Cod Chronicle, is being remembered for her caring nature, her skill as a businesswoman, her fondness for animals, and above all her devotion to family. Mrs. Smith died Monday at the age of 83, less than two months after the passing of her husband, Preston. Born Sheila Whiddon, Mrs. Smith moved to Orleans at a young age and att...

CHATHAM – Randi Potash has been brushing up on county government in preparation for running for the town's seat on the Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates. She's read the county charter, sat in on and watched many assembly meetings, and met with Barnstable County Administrator Jack Yunits and current county commission chairman Leo Cakounes. “I'm always willing to learn,” she said. Potash said she was...

CHATHAM – From the ground, it looked like a bunch of blue dots on the otherwise green outfield of Veterans Field. But from 220 feet up in the air, it came into clear focus. A giant great white shark, more than 170 feet long, almost spanning the entire outfield, was created last Wednesday as recognition of Chatham Elementary School students' positive behavior. In depicting a huge version of the school's mascot,...