CHATHAM — Town meeting voters next May will be asked to spend around a quarter million dollars to purchase a boat ramp on the Mitchell River. And some of those voters might be surprised to learn that ramp, in use by the public for decades, wasn't owned by the town all along. Just west of the Mitchell River drawbridge, the landing is popular among shellfishermen and users of small recreational boats. The land...

CHATHAM – With support from neighborhood residents, the town's historical commission plans to move forward with a National Historic Register District nomination for South Chatham. Neighborhood residents asked “a lot of good questions” at an informational session as part of the South Chatham Village Association's annual meeting Saturday, said commission chairman Frank Messina. Chad Yates, president of the South...

CHATHAM – Beach nourishment, mooring regulations and parking at the fish pier are among the subjects members of the summer residents advisory committee see as top priorities for the board of selectmen. Chairman Michael Waters presented the board with six recommendations developed by the advisory group over the course of its 11 meetings this past summer. The committee met with town staff, selectmen and committe...

CHATHAM — Selectmen Tuesday moved ahead with plans to draft new bylaws which, if approved by voters, would snuff out any chance of recreational marijuana shops opening in town. Leading the charge was selectman Dean Nicastro, who noted that 57.6 percent of Chatham voters rejected last year's petition to legalize recreational marijuana, though a majority of voters across the state approved it. The new law allo...

CHATHAM — John Payson, who consistently challenged the town's approach to managing drinking water and wastewater, died last Tuesday after a brief bout with cancer. He was 94 years old, and had been doggedly researching water management issues until just a few weeks before his death, according to his family. Mr. Payson was a regular contributor to the development of the town's comprehensive wastewater managem...

CHATHAM – While there's still a lot of refining to do, options for a new senior center presented to the council on aging board Monday estimated it will cost between $7 and $10 million to build the facility. Three different size buildings, each with numerous program options – including an adult day center – based on needs assessments and demographic studies of the town's population were outlined by Joel Bargman...

CHATHAM — Selectmen Tuesday moved ahead with plans to draft new bylaws which, if approved by voters, would snuff out any chance of recreational marijuana shops opening in town. Leading the charge was selectman Dean Nicastro, who noted that 57.6 percent of Chatham voters rejected last year's petition to legalize recreational marijuana, though a majority of voters across the state approved it. The new law allo...

CHATHAM – It's certainly true that they're not making any more land. And the land that exists is getting more and more valuable; the town's total value has now topped $6.7 billion. That's borne out by the latest data from the town's assessing department, which shows that property values have increased by 5.1 percent over last year. Although Chatham has seen numerous high-end, multi-million dollar sales, the in...

CHATHAM – Few people can say that cancer hasn't touched their lives, either through their own family or people they know. For Ashley Stearns, that connection was unexpected, and uncomfortably, close. Stearns was living in Orlando, Fla., when she learned that her father, Blake, had bladder cancer. She came back home, where her parents own and operate Marion's Pie Shop, for her father's surgery and to drive him ...

CHATHAM – Back in the 1980s, the local bay scallop fishery was booming. For several months of the year, it was a viable commercial enterprise, with many locals jumping in to take advantage of the bounty found in Pleasant Bay and other near-shore locations. But sometime in the late '80s or early '90s, bay scallops became scarce. For nearly two decades now, there's been barely a commercial harvest in Chatham; la...

CHATHAM – The planning board will see new drainage plans for the controversial Hunter's Rise subdivision off Barn Hill Road on Sept. 12. Developer Eastward Companies is proposing a 14-lot subdivision for the seven-acre property, formerly the site of the Hunter's Pine Acres cottage colony. Ocean Port Lane neighbors to the south, which is down hill from the planned development, had expressed concern about erosio...

CHATHAM — Even as Florida residents brace for a potentially catastrophic strike from Hurricane Irma, local residents are doing what they can to ease human suffering in Texas from Hurricane Harvey. A number of small-scale efforts are underway in various local churches, and a private citizen from Texas, who was visiting the Cape at the time of the storm, returned home with boxes of masks, gloves and other supp...