ORLEANS – The town is working toward a solution for re-engineering the traffic signal system outside the fire station on Eldredge Park Way. A petition article went before voters during Monday's special town meeting seeking to deactivate the three flashing yellow traffic lights except when needed to function for emergency vehicles. Prior to the meeting on May 4, the select board discussed plans to fix the exist...

ORLEANS – Outdoor music may be on its way back to the Barley Neck Inn, that's if it can get an outdoor entertainment license from the select board. An application for the license was filed at town hall last week after the zoning board of appeals voted May 4 that it did not need to first issue a special permit to the inn to allow it to again host outdoor music this summer. Phil Ruggieiri, who co-owns the inn, s...

ORLEANS – Habitat For Humanity Cape Cod wants to bring more density to the homes it builds locally on the Cape, but could this new model work within plans for the Governor Prence Inn property? The town's affordable housing committee met with representatives from Habitat For Humanity May 3, which led to a discussion among committee members about how affordable housing should factor into plans for the 5.5-acre p...

ORLEANS – They didn't pass quietly, but articles to secure construction funding for Meetinghouse Pond sewer work and adopt a new sewer assessment bylaw garnered voter approval during Monday night's annual town meeting. The bylaw, which calls for sewer costs downtown and in the area of Meetinghouse Pond to be split between the tax rate (80 percent) and users who will tie into the new sewer system (20 percent), ...

ORLEANS – Appearing before the select board last week, Sue Sargent decided that words weren't enough to express her disappointment with the newly-planted trees outside the electrical substation at the corner of Route 6A and Eldredge Park Way. So she brought photos. One large photo presented at the board's April 27 meeting showed what residents and visitors to Orleans now see when they approach the intersect...

ORLEANS – Chatham and Orleans have a new three-year agreement in place for the management of Nauset Beach, but officials in both towns say they need to get on the same page financially. During a joint meeting between the towns' select boards April 27, both boards voted to accept the new agreement, with finances to be discussed annually over the next three years. It was also agreed that Orleans would continue t...

ORLEANS – A proposal to double fees for adult recreation programming in town won't be going to town meeting next month as planned. Members of the recreation advisory committee last week said they were caught off guard by a recommendation in the warrant for the May 9 annual town meeting that the fees be raised from $15 to $30. Now the committee is calling for an investigation into its own department's finances....

ORLEANS — On a center table inside Coastal Craft Gallery, various tablecloths, glass ornaments, jewelry and other art pieces sit meticulously organized. But with their blue and yellow color schemes, this is not your typical gallery display. Instead, members hope that sales of the pieces can help people on the other side of the world who are in dire need of it. On Tuesday, the nine local artists who make up the...

ORLEANS – With the aquifer still at a low level, the board of water and sewer commissioners unanimously voted April 20 to implement watering restrictions in town from May through September. With the vote, Orleans joins neighboring towns including Chatham, Harwich, Brewster and Dennis in adopting restrictions on non-essential water usage. “ We are not alone,” Sue Brown, the town’s assistant water superi...

ORLEANS – With the start of the summer season about a month away, the Barley Neck Inn is still wrestling to secure the permitting it needs to host music outdoors. The inn's owner, Phil Ruggieri, is appealing a determination from Building Commissioner Thomas Evers that amplified outdoor music constitutes "an intensification" of the inn's preexisting nonconforming use, and that a special permit is first needed f...

ORLEANS – The town needs a new fire station to replace the existing facility on Eldredge Park Way. But as things stand right now, there aren't many options for siting a new building. The town's fire rescue station feasibility study committee has been charged with coming up with at least three site options apart from Nauset Regional Middle School property for town officials and residents to consider. But the co...

ORLEANS — On a cool, sunny late April morning, Veterans Memorial Park is largely quiet. Cars buzz by the triangular lot of land in all directions, but apart from Brian Sosner and Kevin Higgins, there's no one to be seen. The two Orleans residents hope to change that. If things come together as planned, Higgins can envision people stopping by to visit the park on their way out of the United Methodist Church acr...