EAST ORLEANS — In a session that lasted more than four and a half hours, voters at Saturday’s special town meeting made key decisions about the town’s financial future, showed interest in some big-ticket projects, and approved limited marijuana retail operations in town. The entire warrant was a bit of an experiment in COVID-safe voting, with voters casting ballots from their vehicles using hand-held electroni...

ORLEANS — Bill Amaru, a longtime commercial fisherman and advocate for sensible fisheries management, has been named to the Massachusetts Marine Fisheries Advisory Commission. Established in 1961, the commission advises the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries and includes nine members representing conservation, recreational and commercial fishing interests, including seafood dealers. Commissioners are appoi...

ORLEANS — On Nov. 4, the select board hopes to clear up a somewhat murky situation regarding polluted Uncle Harvey’s Pond. After hearing clarifications of a couple of points, they may be ready to have Town Administrator John Kelly file a Notice of Intent (NOI) with the conservation commission to review a remediation project to use an aluminum sulfate treatment that will reduce phosphorous in the pond. Althou...

ORLEANS — The expectation remains that the owners of the Governor Prence Inn will sign a letter of interest allowing the town to explore potential reuses of the hilltop site, including housing. An update in executive session was on the select board’s agenda last night (Oct. 21). As attorneys hammer out final details of the letter that could lead to an agreement for the town to purchase the property (with vot...

ORLEANS — Only one of the Nauset Regional School District’s seven schools increased its enrollment over last year’s, according to an Oct. 1 enrollment report reviewed by the Nauset Regional School Committee Oct. 8. Eastham Elementary’s gain of two students came as the other four elementary schools showed drops of 35 (Brewster’s Eddy), 24 (Orleans), 11 (Brewster’s Stony Brook), and three (Wellfleet). The midd...

ORLEANS — Opinion is divided in the community over retail recreational marijuana sales, so it should be no surprise that the planning board couldn’t agree on a town meeting article allowing such businesses. By a vote of 2 in favor to 3 against, the board decided Tuesday not to support a zoning amendment that would allow two such establishments in Orleans and restrict them to the Limited Business, General Bus...

ORLEANS — In the midst of a pandemic, the Homeless Prevention Council has found another way to connect people in need to resources. As of Oct. 1, the Orleans-based agency is the Lower and Outer Cape outreach partner with the state for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). “We are certainly thrilled about SNAP,” HPC CEO Hadley Luddy said in an interview this week. “We have always helped people...

ORLEANS — DPW parks foreman Cheryl Esty got a boost from the Nauset Garden Club and the Orleans Improvement Association last week when the two groups helped to spruce up the village green. “They’re fantastic,” Esty said of the volunteers who turned out Oct. 6. “I noticed that when they checked in and were assigned jobs, they went right to work. No complaints.” The feeling was mutual. Esty “is a terrific l...

ORLEANS — Steering a ship of skeptics and advocates of the town buying its own dredge, dredge advisory committee chairman Charlie Carlson kept an even keel Monday during discussion of a financial model prepared by Woods Hole Group. Members punched holes in the draft model and each other’s arguments in a process that will lead to a recommendation to the select board and, if it passes that hurdle, a future town ...

ORLEANS — You don’t find a 314 percent increase in something often – maybe that’s how much your blood pressure rose during last week’s presidential debate – but that figure is an indication of the real estate market’s exponential growth. Pending sales of single-family properties in Orleans jumped from seven in August 2019 to 29 this August, a 314.3 percent increase, according to the Cape Cod & Islands Asso...

ORLEANS — When Eastham historian and selectman Donald Sparrow died in 2014, his obituary listed many accomplishments but stressed that “(h)e was most proud that his grandchildren were the 13th generation to attend school in Eastham.” Now Perry and Maya Sparrow, the brother and sister co-owners of the Hot Chocolate Sparrow, have helped eight of the cafe’s seasonal workers sink their own roots into Cape Cod soil...

ORLEANS — Townspeople got a report last week from the front lines in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Assistant Health Agent Alexandra Fitch, Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Noelle Pina, Nauset School Superintendent Tom Conrad, and Council on Aging Executive Director Judi Wilson shared their stories with a virtual Orleans Citizens Forum audience Sept. 24. “It became clear we had to decide what ...