HARWICH – Selectmen said Monday they want more local control over affordable housing projects. The board discussed affordable housing in general and the 96-unit Chloe’s Path project off Sisson Road in particular, and concluded that scattered affordable projects throughout the town are the best way to address the town's housing needs. “You drive around Harwich and you would be hard put to say that’s where th...

HARWICH – With the help of the Hinckleys Pond Association, the Harwich Conservation Trust is making headway in raising funds to purchase the 31-acre Jenkins bogs property adjacent to the pond. The association has contributed more than $40,000 toward the trust’s goal in donations small and large. “You don’t get to do things that mean something very often. But this is one of them,” association president Deb S...

Harwich Police Detective Sergeant Bob Brackett’s motivation to begin the Harwich Police Soccer Club in 2012 was to provide local boys and girls with an opportunity to play soccer in a re-imagined way. “Everybody plays soccer on grass on a field, 11-on-11. I wanted to come up with unique things that these kids will carry with them forever and they’ll remember back, which is why we started the futsal program ind...

NORTH HARWICH — The Family Pantry of Cape Cod helps provide many of our neighbors in need with nourishing food as well as access to clothing, fuel assistance and other resources. None of it would be possible without the hard work and dedication of the Pantry's 650 volunteers, who give their time and energy not only at the main Pantry location in North Harwich, but also in the Mobile Pantry, the Pantry location at...

HARWICH — The need for navigational safety outweighs the need for a new aquaculture operation in Nantucket Sound waters. That was the word from the board of selectmen, which rejected one request to locate a bay scallop farm in Nantucket Sound, while approving another request to grow scallops in the Herring River. Mark Kelleher of Kelpeher Farms has permission to grow kelp on two, 250-foot long lines offshore i...

HARWICH — In 1899, Caleb Chase gave the town $10,000 to establish a fund to assist the less fortunate members of the community. That contribution has grown and provided between $300,000 and $500,000 in assistance to community members over the years. Caleb Chase Fund Trustee Paul V. Doane made a presentation to selectmen last week on the status of the fund. It continues, 120 years later, to be a successful prog...

HARWICH — The hotel/motel and short- term rental tax may be heading for an increase from 4 to 6 percent. The selectmen have instructed Town Administrator Joseph Powers to draft an article reflecting the increase for the next town meeting. Last week, the board discussed the local option tax as it applied to short-term rentals. Powers informed selectmen that an increase would also apply to hotels and motels as w...

HARWICH — The attorney for an abutter to the proposed Chloe’s Path 96-unit housing development off Sisson Road is claiming that the developer does not have the right to build on the land because it would violate a Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife covenant. Attorney Andrew Singer, representing property owners Gary Terry and Peter Donovan and the proposed developer Kemah Apartments, was before...

HARWICH — The owners of the Seal Pub argued that a surge in unruly customers is not unique to their establishment but is a post-pandemic situation restaurants and bars across the state are experiencing. The pub owners on Tuesday offered a defense against several alleged liquor license violations filed by the police department with the board of selectmen. Town Administrator Joseph Powers conducted an initial sh...

HARWICH — The owner of Jake Rooney's in West Harwich was awarded the lease to operate the restaurant at Saquatucket Harbor by selectmen Monday, but the unavailability of a beer and wine license may delay the opening of the harborside eatery, perhaps for the rest of the summer. Ashwood Food Services was the sole bidder when the town put out requests for proposals to lease the restaurant space through Oct. 11. B...

HARWICH — The natural resources department reported this week the presence of cyanobacteria, a toxic blue-green algae, in the West Reservoir, adjacent to the Herring River. Natural Resources Department Director Heinz Proft said low levels of the algae have also been detected on the Brewster side of Seymour Pond and in Skinequit Pond. “It’s of concern, but it is not considered a critical situation,” Proft sa...

HARWICH — These coyotes don’t howl at night, but they do spend a lot of time in the local parks keeping the Canada geese at bay. The recreation department and the local Little League are using “fake coyotes,” silhouette cut-outs of the predators, to keep flocks of Canada geese from feasting on grass in the parks and depositing the end result of digestion on the playing fields. Recreation Director Eric Beebe sa...