While Board Debates Bog Policy With ConCom HARWICH — Selectmen have approved a one-year extension on the lease of the town-owned Main Street cranberry bogs to provide the current lease holder time to wind down operations. The leasing of town-owned cranberry bogs has become somewhat of a contentious issue, with selectmen and the conservation commission at odds over how the bogs should be used. Selectmen were...

Selectmen Want To Keep Annual Session Short HARWICH — Selectmen have withdrawn the regional DHY Clean Water Partnership, as well as a number of other articles, from the May annual town meeting warrant to try to keep the meeting as short as possible. With the May 8 session scheduled to be held at the sports field at Monomoy Regional High School, selectmen have made it clear they want a concise and non-contro...

Discussions Continue On Elementary School Costs HARWICH — After selectmen threatened several times to reject the Monomoy Regional School District FY22 budget, the board voted 4-0 last week to support the $41,561,134 package. The school budget is up $300,000 over the present year, a 0.73 percent increase. However, Harwich’s share is $27,361,049, a $541,002 increase, or 2.02 percent. Chatham's contribution of...

License Renewal Hearings Put On Hold   <Text> by William F. Galvin HARWICH — Public hearings on liquor and entertainment license renewals for the Port Restaurant and Bar and Ember Pizza were postponed Monday after the owners of the establishments sued the town in federal court. Justin R. Brackett and Jared G. Brackett of 3137 LLC filed the action against the town of Harwich and several official...

HARWICH — In the next week or so, herring will begin to make their way up coastal rivers to headwater ponds to spawn. AmeriCorps members and local volunteers have been busy making those river passages a little easier. Over the past two weeks, Natural Resources Director Heinz Proft has been working with local volunteers and the Barnstable County AmeriCorps crew to clear out the Herring River and Red River leadi...

HARWICH — The waterways committee voted to deny an experimental bay scallop project proposed for an area eight-tenths of a mile off Pleasant Street Beach in Nantucket Sound. The committee’s decision came after Harbormaster John Rendon expressed concerns for potential navigational conflicts with boaters during the summer. The site has already been approved for growing kelp, but the lines required are removed ea...

This week’s troubling pandemic news is that the P.1 variant, which spreads more easily and quickly than other strains of COVID-19, has been detected on Cape Cod. The good news is that the same preventative measures in place since the start of the pandemic – the use of face masks, social distancing and other precautions – are the best defense against the new variant, public health officials say. Sometimes...

HARWICH — There seemed to be little doubt the regional Dennis-Yarmouth-Harwich wastewater partnership will be financially beneficial to Harwich, but selectmen on Monday night were hesitant to include the DHY article on the annual town meeting warrant. Residents have lost confidence because of the cost overruns on the East Harwich sewers, and more community input is needed, board members said. “We’re not rea...

HARWICH — Major traffic and pedestrian access changes, albeit temporary, will be coming to Harwich Center soon. Property and business owners were provided a detailed description of proposed changes to Main Street in Harwich Center by Town Engineer Griffin Ryder last Friday. The changes are being facilitated by a $142,021 Winter Shared Streets and Shapes grant issued to the town by the Massachusetts Departme...

HARWICH — The traditional Easter egg hunt at the community center will be a little different again this year, with the community center staff packaging take-home kits for families to hold their own hunt. Community Center Director Carolyn Carey said people will have to pre-register at the center to get a count of the number of kids who will be participating in the family hunt. The take-home kits will come in va...

HARWICH — Selectmen were pleased to learn that the Monomoy Regional School District reduced its proposed fiscal 2022 spending plan by approximately $300,000, but board members are still not happy with the town’s share of the regional school district budget. Selectmen recently made it clear that they planned to vote against the school budget without some form of mitigation related to the growing disparity in th...

With COVID-19 case numbers continuing to decline, the new single-dose vaccine helping to improve availability, and new CDC guidelines allowing vaccinated people more freedom to meet with friends in person, one would think all the pandemic-related headlines were all positive this week. But the state’s beleaguered online registration system continues to frustrate those seeking to sign up for a vaccine appo...