ORLEANS — Next month, town meeting will vote on spending $33,527,010 to pay for the combined town and schools budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. But voters will look well past FY18 both financially and philosophically as they weigh in on major commitments by the town. On May 8, Orleans will be asked to continue work on water quality projects to the tune of $3,733,660 and to approve spending $13,575...

ORLEANS — To every time, there is a season. Unfortunately, the time for the first season of community gardening at Putnam Farm won't be this year. There have been many encouraging signs for getting under way at the municipally-owned property behind Second District Court, but the town will not be able to put through an access way from Bridge Road until the fall. “The water is in, but it's not on,” agricult...

CHATHAM -- In a civil suit filed in Barnstable Superior Court, Skydive Cape Cod charges the town with breach of contract and discrimination for failing to renew its contract to operate out of Chatham Airport in 2013. The suit, filed in January by Hyannis attorney Robert Lawless on behalf of Skydive Cape Cod owner Jimmy Mendonca, claims the town interfered with its contract with Cape Cod Flying Circus, the airp...

CHATHAM – A state department of environmental protection hearing officer is recommending that a revetment not be allowed to protect a Shore Road home. The conservation commission approved a 108-foot revetment to protect the 498 Shore Rd. property of James and Lisa McGonigle in 2014, but the decision was overturned after an appeal filed by DEP and a group of 10 residents. The owners appealed the decision, and t...

CHATHAM – Town officials were scheduled to travel to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to testify in a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on legislation clarifying the boundary of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge. Town Manager Jill Goldsmith, Selectman Seth Taylor and Natural Resources Director Robert Duncanson were to attend the hearing of the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fe...

CHATHAM – Even though the April Fools Plunge was postponed from Saturday to Sunday, Justin Tavano and Gerard Smith showed up at Harding's Beach on April 1, along with one other person who couldn't make it Saturday. Together they braved the cold and wind-driven rain to take their annual swim on April Fool's Day proper. maintaining their decade-long streak. SEE A GALLERY OF PHOTOS FROM THE APRIL FOOLS PLUNGE HE...

CHATHAM – Chatham Bars Inn will go before the planning board next week with a proposal to allow the resort to continue to use a warehouse it owns on Chatham Bars Avenue as a storage and maintenance facility. Town officials issued stop work orders last year halting the inn's active use of the building at 20 Chatham Bars Avenue. Once a bowling alley but for many years a storage facility, the building is located ...

CHATHAM – Members of the Aunt Lydia's Cove committee want a say in how the town spends the money raised through the fees they pay to operate out of the municipal fish pier. Those fees, which raise about $150,000 annually, are proposed to be placed in a new waterways user fee revolving fund through an article on the May 8 annual town meeting warrant. The fish pier permit fees will be combined with a new waterwa...

Inlet In South Beach Could Prove Troublesome For Fishing Fleet CHATHAM – For the past few months, shellfisherman Randy Saul has been watching a washover on South Beach, about a half mile south of Lighthouse Beach. He knew there was deep water on the ocean side of the narrowing neck of sand as well as on the west side, in the old Southway. It was only a matter of time before the ocean broke through the low, n...

Court Rebuffs Boston YWCA's Attempt To Gain Ownership Of Historic Homes CHATHAM – The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has cleared the way for a Philadelphia nonprofit organization to once again offer vacations at three historic cottages in the Old Village to its members. In denying an appeal last week, the court let stand a ruling turning back the Boston YWCA's attempt to wrest control of the three c...

CHATHAM — On Friday, Peter Connick raised his right hand and became Chatham's fire chief, only the fourth professional chief in the town's history. Connick takes the place of Michael Ambriscoe, who retired at the mandatory retirement age of 65, having served Chatham for a dozen years. “He made us what we are,” Connick said. “He's left this place so much better than he found it.” “It's been an honor and a...

CHATHAM — The political narrative in town has entered a new chapter, with Chatham hosting what appears to be its first political action committee. Last Wednesday, West Chatham resident Rick Leavitt registered a new PAC called the Chatham Citizens for Responsible Government with the town clerk's office. The stated purpose of the committee is “to inform Chatham voters on issues affecting the operation of local...

CHATHAM — The region may still be drying out from some recent soaking rains, but what could be a long, hot summer is just around the corner. And that's turned the heat up on water conservation planning. Selectmen last week scheduled a public hearing to discuss new proposed restrictions on non-essential water use that regulate residential irrigation systems and swimming pools.  The hearing will be held as part ...

Video and photos showing the new break in South Beach.

Cape Cod Potters, Inc. and the culinary department of Cape Cod Regional Technical High School will host the 25 th annual fundraiser Soup Bowls for Hunger to benefit The Family Pantry of Cape Cod on Wednesday, April 12 in the cafeteria at tech school at 352 Pleasant Lake Ave., in Harwich. Tickets are now available for $18 each. The “soup-line” style meal consists of a roll, coffee or tea and a warming soup se...

HARWICH — Selectmen withheld support for a request by Protect Our Cape Cod Aquifer director Laura Kelley Monday night to have selectmen write a letter to the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) protesting planned herbicide spraying to keep vegetation down along power lines. Board of Selectmen Chairman Michael MacAskill stated at the beginning of the board's meeting that they would not be ...