HARWICH — The town will be taking a close look at its compliance with the Americans With Disability Act through a $30,000 planning grant that will evaluate handicapped accessibility in public buildings, parks and beaches. Town Administrator Christopher Clark said the grant was the work of the town's accessibility rights commission, which put in for $50,000 for a municipal self-evaluation from the Massachusetts...

WEST HARWICH — The planning board will conduct a site plan special permit review for the lot along Route 28 on the east corner of Grey Neck Road, which for a long time held sheds for the Mill Store operation on the opposite corner. The Mill Store is no longer in business and both the store and the 40,810-square-foot lot on the east side of Grey Neck Road are for sale. Allen Harbor Marine Service is planning to...

HARWICH — The weather and the warmth of the Cape Verde community made for a wonderful day in Brooks Park on Saturday, with music, dance and food defining the island's culture of the Second Annual Cape Verdean Festival. The Cape Verdean community here has long been an instrumental part of the town. Selectman Ed McManus said he is proud of the part its played, including early contributions to the fishing and cra...

HARWICH — The town has received a $10,000 Communities Cultural District Initiative grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to establish two cultural districts, in Harwich Center and Harwich Port. Harwich over the past year has become very active in focusing on cultural activities as a means of driving the local economy. The conversion of the former Harwich Middle School into the Harwich Cultural Center h...

HARWICH — The second annual Harwich Cape Verdean Festival will enliven Brooks Park on Saturday. The festival showcases Cape Verdean culture and contributions to the community from residents who have come from the 10-island archipelago located 380 miles off the west coast of Africa. Last year's festival was considered a great success. The day-long event included performances by Cape Verdean International singer...

HARWICH — In an effort to implement the Green Communities program approved by town meeting in May, selectmen approved the initial reading of a fuel efficiency vehicle replacement policy Monday, but stalled when the administration sought to put the first vehicle on the road. Town meeting adopted the Stretch Energy Code and put in place a bylaw for large scale ground mounted photovoltaic arrays in May, said Town...

HARWICH — The piping plover chicks nesting on the east end of Red River Beach have fledged, and the town will soon remove concrete barriers placed across a section of the parking lot to protect the state and federally protected species. “I have some fantastic news to share,” Rebeca Linhart of the Massachusetts Audubon Society informed Conservation Administrator Amy Usowski on July Fourth. “When visiting Red Ri...

HARWICH — The town will not be moving forward with developing additional parking at the Schoolhouse parking lot this summer, but town officials are considering a number of short and long-term approaches to address parking in Harwich Port. Those include encouraging people to park in satellite parking lots such as the former fire station on Bank Street and the cultural center on Sisson Road – with possible shutt...

EAST HARWICH — Not many kids become a pilot at 16 years of age, and even fewer of them built an airfield in their backyard. But Charles P.H. “Chief” Bascom attained both those accomplishments. Few people remember the East Harwich Airdrome which operated in a limited fashion for close to 50 years, with planes taking off from the dirt runway over Orleans Road (Route 39) or Church Street, depending upon wind dire...

HARWICH PORT– Faced with opposition from neighbors to a proposal to expand the Schoolhouse parking lot, town officials withdrew the request last week. Town officials were before the planning board seeking a waiver to a site plan issued in 2002 for the parking lot and construction of the chamber of commerce building. Based on the opposition and planning board members' determination that a waiver wasn't the prop...

NORTH HARWICH — Everyone looks forward to Independence Day, but perhaps none so much as clients of the Family Pantry. Still, for many, the day they don’t need help putting food on the table can be elusive. The majority of Family Pantry clients – 63 percent – are working one job or more, and many are employed during the busy summer season. But during the off season, the low wages and few hours available mean ...

HARWICH — The planning board last week unanimously approved the site plan review and use special permits for the new Cape Cod Regional Technical High School. The project is scheduled to get underway in December and is estimated to cost $128 million. The new school will be located on the east side of the 69.46 acre lot that presently holds the existing Cape Tech school in the Pleasant Lake section of town. The ...