ORLEANS — Will the town offices be housing a housing coordinator next year? With everyone talking about the need for housing, and the affordable housing committee and affordable housing trust board doing something about it, the issue has emerged as the town’s top priority. Last week, the two groups met with the selectmen and discussed what might have seemed impossible a year ago: a new hire, part- or full-ti...

ORLEANS — Mindfulness is not just a word for people who meditate in a quiet studio. It’s also for those of all ages and abilities who walk, bicycle, take the bus, or use some kind of motorized vehicle to get to school or work or the store or a place of worship or the beach or the bank…people who want to choose something other than a single-passenger car trip to get somewhere in town. Toward that goal, the Orle...

ORLEANS – Orleans has for 33 years benefited from an often-invisible organization comprised of volunteers who, in collaboration with the town, chamber of commerce and private individuals, raise funds, underwrite and oversee projects that improve the quality of life for all its citizens and visitors. Brick sidewalks, urns of flowers maintained by The Farm, and soon to be installed custom-designed manhole covers on...

ORLEANS — Bluefish Outfitters, the parent company of Goose Hummock Shops, won’t drop anchor for marina and boat storage at the former Beth Bishop parking lot on Route 28. “We have found an alternate site and will not be asking to store boats on the property at this time,” David Bailey, outdoor center manager for Goose Hummock, wrote in an email Nov. 13. At the Nov. 6 zoning board meeting, the company withdre...

ORLEANS — The zoning board has denied the appeal of a building permit issued for 21 Great Oak Rd., a large house under construction that has been listed for short-term vacation rentals for up to 22 people at a time. Vince Ollivier, who lives across the street, filed the appeal based on Hydrangea Properties’ permit request for “construction of a new residential home.” In an interview earlier this month, he sa...

ORLEANS — Fine-tooth combs were the order of the day as the finance committee delved into the details of the Nauset Regional High School building project last week. Its guests included the chairmen of the building committee and the regional school committee as well as Superintendent Tom Conrad. Renovation and construction at the half-century-old Eastham campus could cost up to $140 million, with the district’s...

ORLEANS — Tales of service and sacrifice were shared at the town’s Veterans Day observance Monday. The audience of about 100 learned that National Anthem singer Hannah Novotny’s grandfather served in World War II, that former selectman and Navy veteran Jon Fuller’s vessel was on the gunline in North Vietnam, that middle school band director Megan Anthony’s family feared that her younger brother’s Black Hawk helic...

ORLEANS — To Sean Campbell, there’s nothing out of the ordinary about his family’s house being built on Great Oak Road. “It is unfortunate that we are being singled out for building a private residence (in compliance with town zoning bylaws), it seems, because the home will be used partly as a rental property,” he wrote to The Chronicle last week. “Our view is rental properties are very common in East Orleans,...

ORLEANS — Water is a blessing and a challenge for the town. The beauty of the bays, the peace of the ponds, and the freshness of the drinking water are balanced by the need to manage wastewater and stormwater and to deal with erosion and flooding. With a decades-long plan to address wastewater in place, attention is turning to a possible long-range plan for another pollutant, stormwater runoff. There’s exten...

ORLEANS — “Our family builds charming, neighborly rental homes that fit into their surrounding communities,” reads the letter to neighbors of 21 Great Oak Rd. in East Orleans. The request for a building permit, which was granted in late August, called for “construction of a new residential home.” That permit will be challenged Nov. 6 at the zoning board of appeals by an abutter who says the building, still u...

ORLEANS — For decades, the Peck family has been stewards of the hillside that runs down to Arey’s Pond and the Namequoit River, said to be the site of the town’s last Indian meetinghouse. In 2006, they sold the town 8.2 acres that became the Marion Hadley and Samuel Watson Peck Conservation Area. Last week, three members of the town’s open space committee tramped through the lightly-wooded north two acres of...

ORLEANS — The Centers for Culture and History in Orleans (formerly the Orleans Historical Society) has ended plans to acquire the historic Captain Linnell House. Owners Bill and Shelly Conway have put their retirement plans on hold and are taking reservations for Christmas parties and weddings again. “Next year will be our 32 nd year,” Shelly Conway said in a phone interview Monday. “We’ve weathered a lot o...