ORLEANS – There's very little town officials can do to combat the area's high cost of living, especially when it comes to escalating housing prices. But one way the town may be able to help young families struggling to stay in town is by subsidizing preschool costs. After hearing how Eastham recently approved funding to cover the cost of preschool for all 3 and 4 year olds, Orleans School Committee members agr...

ORLEANS — Nauset Marine has bought a location at the Routes 6A and 28 roundabout that had been eyed as part of a solution for people needing transitional housing. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River sold 54 Route 6A, the former St. Joan of Arc thrift shop, to the nearby marina business for $185,001. The latest assessed value of the property is $352,800, which includes a $16,000 figure for the building, ...

ORLEANS — The Centers for Culture and History in Orleans is focused as much on the future as on the past these days. Last week, board chair Jay Stradal shared the organization’s five-year plan for its East Orleans campus bordered by Main Street, River Road, and School Road. “Our vision,” he told the select board July 14, “is to update the CHO buildings (the historic Meetinghouse and Hurd Chapel) to serve as ...

ORLEANS — The train is ready to leave the station on some big town projects, but the track ahead is lengthy and has some twists. The first stop will be a completed community center feasibility study, where data and ideas will be taken on board to carry to the next destination: a point decision on whether to use the Governor Prence property for housing, a community center, a commercial attraction, or some com...

ORLEANS — That the community wanted a Fourth of July parade this year was never in question, but parade committee chair Jenn Allard wondered if the usual participants could summon the resources to participate following the pandemic. “I was really concerned that being in the parade, while enjoyable, might not be a priority,” she said. “I completely was proved wrong. There were more floats than in recent years, ...

ORLEANS — Late on the night of the day he rode as grand marshal of the Independence Day parade, Kevin Higgins was jolted awake by what sounded like a massive explosion outside his home across from Viking Point. “I thought somebody’s fireworks had all gone off at once,” he said in an interview with The Chronicle. “It was a cacophony of sound.” Higgins went down to his dock, where he saw a boat “pace back and...

ORLEANS — The town’s charter answers question about how to conduct the town’s business. The charter review committee asks questions about those answers and listens for better ones. The committee met last month with Fire Chief Geof Deering to hear his comments on how the charter can be more responsive and effective, and will entertain Police Chief Scott MacDonald at its next meeting on July 19 at 5:30 p.m. Heal...

ORLEANS — The controversy over awarding rights to negotiate a community host agreement to sell cannabis in town had its day in court July 1. Barnstable Superior Court Judge Mark Gildea took under advisement B\Well Holdings’s request for a preliminary injunction to block the town from acting on the select board’s decision to give those rights to Seaside Joint Venture or any other applicant that scored lower than...

ORLEANS — “Roll tape” may replace “roll the presses” at the former Cape Codder printery on Namskaket Road if Lower Cape Community Access TV opens a new headquarters there. The non-profit content and community access provider was to go before the site plan review committee yesterday (July 7) for informal review of its plan to build two studios (one with a working kitchen), an audio recording booth, and even a...

ORLEANS — Police Chief Scott MacDonald, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, remembers when “community policing” was more reactive. “When a problem arose, we would connect with the community and try to solve that problem,” he said last week. “Community policing was always on the periphery, not part of the fundamental foundation of law enforcement.” That had to change. “We can’t react after there’s a problem,”...

ORLEANS — The town has received a single proposal – from Housing Assistance Corporation – to develop and operate rental housing at 107 Main St. HAC CEO Alisa Magnotta wrote of plans to build 14 affordable rental apartments “in one structure designed in the style of a historic Cape Cod home, befitting the rich history of the property.” In an area of antique homes, the proposed building follows a traditiona...

ORLEANS — Clashing perspectives on Nauset Estuary were evident again at last week’s public forum on dredging the heavily-shoaled waters in Eastham and Orleans. To some, the condition of the estuary is a clear and present danger to the fishing fleet and recreational boaters and a hindrance to commerce. To others, such risks are known and do not outbalance the potential damage large-scale dredging could do to ...