HARWICH — The town has only limited power over the use of drones within the community, town counsel has ruled in a legal opinion relating to a local regulation seeking to keep the devices away from public beaches. In early April members of the recreation and youth commission and Recreation Department Director Eric Beebe came before selectmen with a proposed regulation seeking to ban the use of drones and other...

EAST HARWICH — Firefighters from four towns and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation were busy this weekend battling a persistent fire in Hawksnest State Park. The fire started deep in the woods, making it difficult for firefighters to get to the fire and stage equipment to battle it. Deputy Fire Chief David LeBlanc said the department received a call about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoo...

HARWICH — While there was some bad news for the Saquatucket Harbor waterside reconstruction project last week, the landside project received good news this week in the form of a $187,500 Coastal Resilience Grant Program award from the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management. The funds will be used to assist with planning, engineering and permitting landside improvements proposed at the harbor and on the newly pu...

HARWICH — The town of Harwich became the sixth municipality on the Cape to receive approval from the Cape Cod Commission on its comprehensive wastewater management plan last Thursday. “It's a great milestone,” said David Young, P.E. of CDM Smith, Inc., the town's consultant, when the commission unanimously voted to adopt the draft decision from its subcommittee. Young pointed out the town has been working on t...

HARWICH — The proposed $7 million Saquatucket Harbor waterside renovation project will be put on hold for a year while the town works through additional permitting issues required by the Army Corps of Engineers. There are two issues the town will need to address. One is the need for additional biological testing of dredge material in the harbor, while the other relates to a 408 permit, requiring the Corps to a...

NORTH HARWICH — Each year, more people visit the Family Pantry's headquarters for help with food, clothing and other necessities. Thanks to generous supporters and a partnership with the Chatham Council on Aging, the Pantry will be taking their work to the streets next month. With donations from the Simon Foundation, the Greater Boston Food Bank and TD Bank, the Pantry has purchased a second-hand refrigerate...

EAST HARWICH — There were two motor vehicle accidents in less than 48 hours last week at one of the worst intersections to travel on Cape Cod, Route 39/ Pleasant Bay Road. One of the accidents was a three-car collision which occurred when a vehicle stopped at the southbound stop sign on Pleasant Bay Road observed a vehicle heading east on Route 39, which stopped to take a left onto Pleasant Bay Road and anothe...

HARWICH — The town's building commissioner over the past two years, David Riquinha, has announced his resignation. Riquinha, who lives in Dartmouth, will be taking a similar position closer to home and family in the town of Wareham. Riquinha said it takes him an hour and 10 minutes to get from Dartmouth to Harwich, and it will only take him 20 minutes to go from Dartmouth to Wareham. The new position he will t...

HARWICH — The fish were flapping onto the deck of the Division of Marine Fisheries vessel from the new artificial fish reef constructed 2.8 miles outside Saquatucket Harbor last Thursday as state officials took a measurement of the success of the benthic structure built to create new fish habitat. “I'm very impressed, it's verification of it working,” Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beato...

EAST HARWICH — The 3.3 acre parcel on Route 39 to the west of Harwich East Plaza has been sold to Eastward MBT, LLC, Trustee of Eastward Homes Business Trust of Chatham. The purchase ties this parcel together with a 7.4-acre parcel also owned by Eastward Homes, which extends to Route 137. A year ago, Agway of Cape Cod had a purchase and sales agreement on this property and was planning to build a 9,932-square-...

HARWICH — Brooks Free Library is open again to the public after two weeks of the main library being closed due to a failed electrical component that darkened the building and shut down its emergency lighting system. The cause for the failure in the transistor inverter board is still not clear, but the town has had to shell out $10,582 for a new unit and for installation. This is the second time in less than a ...

HARWICH — The Harwich Conservation Trust took time in its annual meeting to honor The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts as the organization's Conservationist of the Year. HCT also honored the local Tour de Trash organizers as Volunteer Group of the Year. HCT held its 28 th annual meeting at the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club on Aug. 1 and as part of that gathering the trust announced a $125,000 pledge ...