CHATHAM — In a meeting with exhaustive public comment last week, the town’s charter review committee heard the pros and cons of a suggestion that the select board serve, in part, as the town’s airport commission. The charter committee is likely to take up detailed discussion on the proposal shortly. Airport critic David Bixby proposed a charter change that would stipulate that the airport commission be const...

CHATHAM – Sarah Dennis wants to make sure veterans don't feel forgotten. When she heard that flags weren't going to be placed on the graves of local veterans, she marshaled volunteers, collected hundreds of flags and began distributing them to businesses and in public spaces around town. “We want to honor all veterans,” she said. “We wanted to lay out a red, white and blue carpet for them.” The group sta...

CHATHAM — Kept apart by the pandemic last year, r esidents came together again for last week’s Veterans Day observances. Retired army Chief Warrant Officer Robert Franz convened the service in front of the town’s World War I memorial at the community center. Gesturing up at the American flag above, Franz read from a 1917 speech by President Woodrow Wilson, who observed that the flag is an emblem of the nation...

CHATHAM – The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law by President Joe Biden Monday will provide $550 billion for water, sewer, transportation and other projects over the next five years. What's in it for local towns? The bill is expected to provide funding through both direct grants and existing state programs. Chatham, Orleans and Harwich are all engaged in sewer construction programs that are...

CHATHAM – What may be one of the biggest sales in recent history was just one of several major property sales reported in town in the past month. A 5.2-acre parcel and an adjacent vacant lot on Stage Neck Road sold to a Cambridge buyer Oct. 28 for a combined $15 million. Earlier in the month, two properties along the town's eastern shore sold for $12 million each. Those sales are more evidence of continued ...

CHATHAM — Though some want a stand-alone facility and others prefer adding on to the community center, nearly everyone who attended Tuesday’s forum on a new senior center want some kind of project to go forward. Resident Frank Messina said there’s no question that the current senior center on Stony Hill Road is inadequate and needed replacement 10 or 20 years ago. “The seniors in Chatham have been waiting thei...

CHATHAM – Despite several dozen youngsters returning to in-person classes after being homeschooled last year, the Monomoy Regional School District still saw an overall decline in the number of students. There was good news for Chatham Elementary School, however. The number of local kindergarten students jumped from nine last year to 29 in the current school year, based on October enrollment figures. That bumpe...

“Our mayor of Chatham.” “The heartbeat of Chatham.” “Chatham’s most ardent cheerleader.” These are a few of the comments friends wrote on Amy F. Tagliaferri’s Facebook page after she was named Businessperson of the Year last Tuesday evening by the Chatham Chamber of Commerce and the Chatham Merchants Association during an event at the Chatham Orpheum. Tagliaferri has worked as an advertising representati...

CHATHAM – A member of the historic business district commission last week criticized the developers of the former Monomoy Theatre property for planning to build “rich men's houses” while the town suffers through an affordable housing crisis. The HBDC held a pre-application meeting to review preliminary designs for four single-family homes on the property at 776 Main St. and 70 Depot Rd. The planning board rece...

CHATHAM — Eversource Energy has asked permission to remove 60 trees from a stretch of Middle Road to make way for new utility poles that will service a new privately-owned solar farm. The select board is worried about the impact on neighbors and on nearby town-owned property, and is asking for more information about the plan. The 2.5-megawatt solar farm at the former Dubis sand pit is nearing completion and wi...

CHATHAM – Significant work will be done on Bridge Street in the coming weeks necessitating detours and closure of the road. Water lines along the entire road from Stage Harbor Road on the west to Main Street on the east will be replaced, and new sewer mains will be installed through the middle of December. Bridge Street will be closed to through traffic during most of that time. Residents will continue to h...

A nor'easter that the National Weather Service dubbed a “bomb cyclone” slammed into the region late last Tuesday and into Wednesday, downing dozens of trees and knocking out power to some residents for as long as four days. More than 1,600 line and tree crews from as far away as Michigan and Canada worked throughout the week to restore power. During the height of the outage, 91 percent of Orleans was without e...