ORLEANS — $29 million. $3.96 billion. Some pretty big numbers were discussed at last week's selectmen's meeting. The $29 million is the amount the town will borrow next month to pay for the new police and DPW/natural resources facilities and a slew of other projects ranging from the recently completed Rock Harbor bulkhead work to replacement of water mains on Beach Road. The $3.96 billion is the ass...

HARWICH PORT — By a more than three-to-one margin, voters Tuesday gave Cape Cod Tech the green light for a $128 million new high school building. Based on unofficial tallies from town clerks in the 12 towns from Mashpee to Provincetown, the building project passed by a vote of 12,207 to 3,927, earning solid wins in each town in the district. “Most of all, this vote endorses our students,” Superintendent o...

ORLEANS – Voters dug deep into their pockets Tuesday to fund the central core of a downtown sewer system and a new building for Cape Cod Regional Technical High School. They also backed spending $600,000 for HVAC upgrades at the town's elementary school. By a margin of 1,102 to 412, townspeople agreed to borrow $3.68 million to put in sewer pipes and connectors to property lines under Main Street between Acade...

CHATHAM – Selectmen Tuesday named seven residents to the committee charged with examining possible uses for the Eldredge Garage property, recently purchased by the town for $2.5 million. Named to the Eldredge Garage property planning committee were Sandy Wycoff, owners of the Chatham Clothing Bar; Scott Hamilton of Chatham Jewelers; former Independence Day parade committee chairman Brad Schiff; resident John K...

CHATHAM – At a public information meeting Monday evening on the Crowell Road Intersection Improvement Project, local residents critiqued the plan that selectman blessed in August for improving the intersection of Crowell Road and Route 28. While residents generally agree that the intersection is antiquated and dangerous, several of the roughly 40 people at the meeting at the town hall annex said they favored a...

CHATHAM – Hoping to impress upon federal officials the need for a permanent solution to the dispute over the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge's western boundary, town officials traveled to Washington, D.C. Monday and met U.S. Department of the Interior officials. Selectman Shareen Davis, Natural Resources Director Robert Duncanson and Town Manager Jill Goldsmith also met with staff from the House Natural Resou...

CHATHAM – Amid a crowd of Pumpkin People in the Park, the town will celebrate Oktoberfest Saturday at Kate Gould Park. The festival runs from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and features food, live music and games for the whole family. Sponsored by the Chatham Merchants Association, the event includes a costume parade at noon; kids and adults are encouraged to show off their Halloween outfits. Other Oktoberfest hig...

CHATHAM – Distilling four separate waterways-related regulations into a single document isn't an easy task, and even the process of reviewing the consolidated rules has become fraught with controversy. A lack of public input into the process thus far and the possibility of an independent review of the consolidated regulations took center stage at last week's board of selectmen's meeting, although the not-so-su...

Steep Enrollment Decline Likely To Lead To Changes CHATHAM – Chatham Elementary School could end up as one of the smallest elementary schools on the Cape if recent enrollment trends continue. A 12 percent drop in enrollment this fall resulted in the school's usual three classes at the kindergarten level dropping to two, requiring the transfer of one teacher to Harwich Elementary School to keep class size ...

CHATHAM — When it comes to boosting numbers of commercially important fish species – and helping the small-boat fishery that relies on them – the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance is proposing a “no-fish zone” on the backside of the Cape designed to keep herring trawlers out. If it's implemented, the conservation measure could also benefit whales, seabirds and other species that feed on Atlantic herring....

HARWICH — Selectmen have endorsed the state Department of Housing and Community Development regulatory agreement that will move the West Harwich Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod development forward. Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod Executive Director Victoria Goldsmith said the purchase of the land should close in November as long as all the affordable housing trust fund money is available. Goldsmith told s...

HARWICH — Selectmen on Monday night postponed action on a request by the cemetery commission to name the town's new pet burial grounds on Queen Anne Road after Christine Wood, a longtime cemetery commissioner and committed community volunteer. Cemetery Administrator Robbin Kelley said Wood was well-known and appreciated for being an active volunteer in the town. Kelly pointed out Wood was the 2010 recipient of...

HARWICH — The auditing firm which conducted a review of the town's financial statements ending in June 2016 discovered an overpayment of $325,000 to the general contractor working on the Muddy Creek Bridge project. Lynch, Malloy, Marini, LLP of Norwell, the town's auditor, made recommendations for improvements to internal controls, policies, procedures and risk assessments for the town.“It is important to reco...

HARWICH — The committee working with the architects on improvements to Station 2 in East Harwich voted on Tuesday to move forward with a new building to replace the 41-year-old station, based on options put forward by consultants Kaestle Boos Associates. Building a new station would cost about the same as upgrading the existing structure to meet current needs and safety codes, according to the consultants. ...

HARWICH — The recreation department has been implementing a five-phase plan for improvements to Brook Park over the past few years, but the most noticeable change is the new picnic pavilion and fencing leading into the expanded parking area. “Brooks Park always has been busy, but we saw the potential for even more use and we're fulfilling what we thought it will do,” Recreation Director Eric Beebe said of the ...

PLEASANT LAKE — Following years of planning, studying and lobbying state officials, Cape Tech will see its bid for a $128 million new school building put before voters Tuesday. It's the first such vote in the history of the regional school district, which teaches vocational skills to students in the 12 towns between Mashpee and Provincetown. School officials are seeking to completely replace the existing 42-...