ORLEANS – One of two businesses authorized to operate a recreational marijuana establishment in town won approval from the zoning board of appeals last week. After some discussion about whether or not it could begin its review, the zoning board voted unanimously June 15 to award a special permit to Seaside Joint Ventures, Inc., which plans to operate under the name Seaside Cannabis Co. on Lots Hollow Road. ...

Still Seen As Most Critical Use Of 5.5-acre Site ORLEANS – The need for housing continues to drive planning for the former Governor Prence Inn property on Route 6A. The Governor Prence Planning Committee has been exploring potential options for the 5.5-acre site since the fall. While multiple uses have been discussed including a community center and performing arts space, feedback from the community th...

Town-Owned Housing Helps Retain Seasonal Workers ORLEANS – Summer has arrived, and the town’s public works and natural resources departments are ready for the seasonal influx at Nauset and Skaket beaches. Some Cape towns have encountered staffing issues for their beaches. In Chatham, for instance, the town had 19 lifeguards ready to work as of the end of May, far less than the 26 to 32 that typically c...

Consultant Eliminates Two Of Three Properties From Consideration ORLEANS – The town is officially down to one site on which to build a new fire station. Ron Collins, the town’s facilities manager, told the select board June 9 that Kaestle Boos Architects, the firm hired as a consultant to work with the town’s fire rescue station feasibility study committee, is expected to have a “site suitability analy...

Says Suit Is Without Merit, One Of Many Filed Against Lodging Businesses ORLEANS – Ed Maas left the Orleans Waterfront Inn Thursday afternoon to give blood at the Church of the Holy Spirit. When he returned, he found a man waiting for him in the lobby. “ The inn was locked,” he said. “The front door was locked. I came in through the back door and walked up the stairs, and there’s a man standing in our...

NORTH EASTHAM –  “What this community has meant to me these weeks, these months; let’s just say none of us is alone anymore.” That quote from The Riddler didn’t initially strike Katie Sanborn as an appropriate senior class quote. But the Nauset High class valedictorian eventually came around to it. “I’m not alone here as I stand before you,” she told friends, family, faculty and her fellow classmates during...

ORLEANS - What might a new Snow Library look like, and how does the town plan for a new community center around it? Recognizing the potential for an overlap in programming between the two buildings, the town's community center feasibility task force recently met with library officials to see how both projects might coexist. The task force is working through the results of an online survey that sought inform...

ORLEANS – Transports are up at the Orleans Fire Department, and with the impending opening of a new urgent care center next month on Route 6A, the trend is expected to continue. But to accommodate the additional call volume, Fire Chief Geof Deering said something needs to be done to boost the department's staffing levels. In his report to the select board June 1, Deering said ambulance transports went from ...

ORLEANS – There's no shortage of volunteer board and committee members in town. But the select board last week said more needs to be done to mentor and coach those members along into leadership roles. The town currently limits members to serving no more than two terms, but it's a policy that's not always adhered to. As a result, other members don't grow as readily into chairmanship positions on boards and comm...

NORTH EASTHAM –  “What this community has meant to me these weeks, these months; let’s just say none of us is alone anymore.” That quote from The Riddler didn’t initially strike Katie Sanborn as an appropriate senior class quote. But the Nauset High class valedictorian eventually came around to it. “I’m not alone here as I stand before you,” she told friends, family, faculty and her fellow classmates during...

Uvalde, Texas, is almost 2,200 miles away from Chatham Elementary School. But for the school's principal, Jennifer Kelly, it feels much closer to home. A total of 21 people, including 19 students and two teachers, were killed in the May 24 shooting at Uvalde's Robb Elementary School, making it one of the most deadly school shootings on record in the United States. The shooting has reopened the national debate ...

Looking back, Scott MacDonald realizes how fortunate he was to have bought his home in Brewster in 1999. "We paid just under $180,000 for that home, and I'll tell you, we worked really hard," said MacDonald, Orleans' chief of police. "We're very proud we were able to pay our mortgage and raise a wonderful family there." But the cost of housing has reached unprecedented heights on the Cape, and many police o...