HARWICH — The planning board held back on making a decision on a modification to a site plan permit for the first floor of the Harwich Port Commons building due to a dispute over beer and wine sales with abutter Joseph Della Morte of Cranberry Liquors. Attorney Andrew Singer made the presentation for the modification on behalf of 525 Camelot owners Paul and Diane Manning. The modification was a minor adjustmen...

HARWICH — The Royal Apartment presentation to the planning board has raised an interesting dynamic related to dwelling unit density in Harwich Center versus the need for additional workforce housing. The project presented to the board last week seeks to convert the former nursing home/assisted living facility and senior day care center on the corner of Bank and Parallel streets into a 26-unit apartment complex...

HARWICH — The planning board this past week approved a site plan review special permit to establish a large scale photovoltaic array at the Cranberry Valley Golf Course. There will actually be two locations where the arrays will be located. The larger one with 648 panels will be placed on a 1.26-acre parcel just north of the new cart barn running toward the municipal course’s maintenance facility. The other, c...

HARWICH — The community center is planning a 20th anniversary party that will run for the month of February. The actual anniversary, which celebrates the opening of the center, will be Feb. 5, and events on that day will include the showing of the video “Then and Now” at the center. “I’m really excited about turning 20. I was excited at 10 years,” said Community Center Director Carolyn Carey. “The building has...

HARWICH – The Monomoy After Prom Planning Committee needs help and they're not afraid to ask for it. Unfortunately, as the 2020 Junior Prom approaches, the answer to numerous requests for financial support for the annual After Prom event has been largely in the negative, which has committee members scrambling to raise the funds necessary to keep the program afloat. The After Prom is a special post-prom event l...

HARWICH — The second incumbent selectman whose term expires in May, Larry Ballantine, has joined Selectman Donald Howell in taking out nomination papers for another three-year term. Ballantine, currently the board's chairman, served on the board for six years before taking a hiatus in 2015 for a couple of years. He came back in 2017, winning election to a third term. He took out nomination for a fourth term on...

EAST HARWICH — With a little fanfare Monday morning, the Harwich Fire Department opened the new $6.75 million fire substation in East Harwich. Most of the fanfare came nearly two months ago, during an official ribbon cutting for the new station. Since that time, additional work has been taking place on the epoxy floor in the six-vehicle apparatus bay, and some challenges with the heating system have been addre...

Contamination May Force Current Site To Be Abandoned HARWICH — The water department is concerned about pollution to the well fields at its Chatham Road site and is considering moving its operation to the land on Queen Anne Road where a pet cemetery was previously proposed. Selectmen asked the real estate and open space committee a couple of weeks ago to assess the future of the parcel, the jurisdiction of w...

HARWICH — There will be another effort by a Harwich Center Initiative Committee, working more closely with town agencies, to develop a road map for revitalizing Harwich Center. Selectmen last week heard a report from the committee, which was put in place a year ago and charged with shaping a plan but which took a hiatus last March. Committee members said they needed additional assistance, including traffic, pa...

HARWICH — For Lee Culver, wearing a Harwich Police Department badge for nearly 30 years wasn’t the sum of his service to the town he loved. It was just a start. Mr. Culver, who retired from the department in 2008, died Sunday morning at the age of 72 after what friends describe as a courageous battle with cancer. Though the disease was debilitating, Mr. Culver remained civically active as long as he was physic...

HARWICH — The affordable housing committee is looking to put its first housing project in place to demonstrate the abilities of the recently installed affordable housing trust to develop housing. The group received some good news from a due diligence assessment conducted by Bohler Engineering on behalf of the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. The company conducted an assessment of the 265 Sisson Rd. property,...

HARWICH — Selectman Donald Howell took out nomination papers to run for a fourth term on the board this past week. His term and that of Selectmen Chairman Larry Ballantine expire in May. Ballantine has said a couple of times on the past month he has not reached a decision yet on whether he will run for another term. Town spending and its impact on taxpayers is the major issue facing the community, Howell to...