ORLEANS – Outdoor music is returning to the Barley Neck Inn, but musicians will have to leave their amplifiers at home. In a compromise with neighbors to the Beach Road restaurant, the select board unanimously voted May 11 to approve a seasonal outdoor entertainment license for non-amplified, acoustic music at the inn through November. "We've known for a while that the season is coming, and we need to move ...

ORLEANS – The signs told the tale at the Orleans Rotary last weekend. "Protect Roe," one read. "No Choice No Sex," read another. People packed the rotary early Saturday afternoon to protest the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade following a draft ruling from the Supreme Court that leaked to the public earlier this month. The Orleans rally was one of several held across the country Saturday in support o...

ORLEANS – With planning for downtown and Meetinghouse Pond sewer work now in the rearview, Orleans officials are now looking toward the future. The town's wastewater consultant, AECOM, presented its recommendations for the next eight phases of sewering to the select board May 11. At the top of the list are six properties bordering Uncle Harvey's Pond and two phases of work on Eldredge Park Way. In October, ...

ORLEANS – The needs of any town are multi-faceted. On Cape Cod, affordable housing, wastewater treatment and protection of open space often top the list. But that doesn't mean those needs have to compete against one another. That's the philosophy behind Grow Smart Cape Cod, a new data-driven program that uses interactive mapping to help communities prioritize future projects in those areas. The program, whi...

ORLEANS – On May 6, town officials, residents and Eversource representatives gathered at the utility's electrical substation at the corner of Route 6A and Eldredge Park Way. They were there to try and hash out a plan to better screen the substation with trees and plantings, but the building adjacent to the station also caught the eye of Select Board Chair Mefford Runyon. The aging condition of the Orleans Cham...

ORLEANS – It was a clean sweep in Tuesday's annual town election, as Orleans voters passed all four override questions put before them on the ballot. Question 1 to approve $627,032 to cover the town's portion of the Nauset regional school budget for next year passed 705-182, according to preliminary results released Tuesday night. Voters also approved two questions on Meetinghouse Pond, one to fund the constru...

ORLEANS – They didn't pass quietly, but articles to secure construction funding for Meetinghouse Pond sewer work and adopt a new sewer assessment bylaw garnered voter approval during Monday night's annual town meeting. The bylaw, which calls for sewer costs downtown and in the area of Meetinghouse Pond to be split between the tax rate (80 percent) and users who will tie into the new sewer system (20 percent), ...

ORLEANS – The inside of Lower Cape TV's new headquarters doesn't look like much now, but executive director Teresa Martin sees what it has the potential to be: a community hub. There's much still to be done before the nonprofit can officially move its base of operations over from Nauset Regional High School, but Martin can already visualize where the studios, the control room and the office and community space...

ORLEANS – The town is working toward a solution for re-engineering the traffic signal system outside the fire station on Eldredge Park Way. A petition article went before voters during Monday's special town meeting seeking to deactivate the three flashing yellow traffic lights except when needed to function for emergency vehicles. Prior to the meeting on May 4, the select board discussed plans to fix the exist...

ORLEANS – Outdoor music may be on its way back to the Barley Neck Inn, that's if it can get an outdoor entertainment license from the select board. An application for the license was filed at town hall last week after the zoning board of appeals voted May 4 that it did not need to first issue a special permit to the inn to allow it to again host outdoor music this summer. Phil Ruggieiri, who co-owns the inn, s...

ORLEANS – Habitat For Humanity Cape Cod wants to bring more density to the homes it builds locally on the Cape, but could this new model work within plans for the Governor Prence Inn property? The town's affordable housing committee met with representatives from Habitat For Humanity May 3, which led to a discussion among committee members about how affordable housing should factor into plans for the 5.5-acre p...

ORLEANS – They didn't pass quietly, but articles to secure construction funding for Meetinghouse Pond sewer work and adopt a new sewer assessment bylaw garnered voter approval during Monday night's annual town meeting. The bylaw, which calls for sewer costs downtown and in the area of Meetinghouse Pond to be split between the tax rate (80 percent) and users who will tie into the new sewer system (20 percent), ...

ORLEANS – Appearing before the select board last week, Sue Sargent decided that words weren't enough to express her disappointment with the newly-planted trees outside the electrical substation at the corner of Route 6A and Eldredge Park Way. So she brought photos. One large photo presented at the board's April 27 meeting showed what residents and visitors to Orleans now see when they approach the intersect...

ORLEANS – Chatham and Orleans have a new three-year agreement in place for the management of Nauset Beach, but officials in both towns say they need to get on the same page financially. During a joint meeting between the towns' select boards April 27, both boards voted to accept the new agreement, with finances to be discussed annually over the next three years. It was also agreed that Orleans would continue t...

ORLEANS – A proposal to double fees for adult recreation programming in town won't be going to town meeting next month as planned. Members of the recreation advisory committee last week said they were caught off guard by a recommendation in the warrant for the May 9 annual town meeting that the fees be raised from $15 to $30. Now the committee is calling for an investigation into its own department's finances....

ORLEANS — On a center table inside Coastal Craft Gallery, various tablecloths, glass ornaments, jewelry and other art pieces sit meticulously organized. But with their blue and yellow color schemes, this is not your typical gallery display. Instead, members hope that sales of the pieces can help people on the other side of the world who are in dire need of it. On Tuesday, the nine local artists who make up the...