ORLEANS — It’s not easy finding an affordable place to live on Cape Cod, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that increasing the town’s stock of affordable housing is not a simple task. Like homeowners pouncing on every possibility, the affordable housing committee and the affordable housing trust board have pursued a full portfolio of options: purchasing land on which Habitat for Humanity will build homes, paying...

ORLEANS — Sixteen adults with severe autism will start moving into their new homes at Cape Cod Village early next year. Before then, there’ll be a holiday party in the development’s community resource center to celebrate the opening of the $7 million development. Board members and founders Bob and Lauren Jones walked the property, bounded by the Mid-Cape Home Center, the Cape Cod Rail Trail, and a cranberry ...

ORLEANS — Chairman Ron Petersen admits that most people think of the historical commission as working to preserve the historic buildings of the town, and that’s a big part of its mandate. But in a talk last month hosted by the Orleans Conservation Trust, Petersen noted that the commission’s charge extends to historic landscapes as well. “We’re charged with preserving and developing the historic resources of ...

ORLEANS — It was a little too close for comfort for a surfer off Nauset Beach Friday morning, after a white shark passed within feet of his board. “The whole experience still feels utterly surreal,” said Devon Zimmerman of Brooklyn, N.Y., reflecting on the encounter. Zimmerman was near the center of Nauset Beach, by the administration building, and had just paddled out. “It couldn't have been more than five...

ORLEANS — The site plan review committee is on board with the final design for the town’s proposed wastewater treatment facility at Overland Way. Plans were approved last week subject to information in the final submittal. Tom Parece, senior program director for town consultant AECOM, said the site plan’s OK was one of “a myriad of permits” needed before the project is submitted for SRF (state revolving fund...

Editor’s note: This article was revised after its initial publication to include clarifying information. ORLEANS — The proposed renovation and expansion of Nauset Regional High School is such a big deal that even the idea of having Provincetown and Truro possibly join the four-town system is just part of the story. “This past year, we have been involved in negotiations” with the two outermost towns, Nau...

ORLEANS — Hundreds of people made the most of the last two days of summer this weekend, taking to ponds, beaches and nature trails for the 10th annual Celebrate Our Waters event. Newbies try their balance on stand-up paddleboards in Pilgrim Lake, thanks to an introduction by SUPfari Adventures. Organized by t...

ORLEANS — If you haven’t had a chance to get out on the water this summer, or even if you have, you won’t want to miss the 10th annual Celebrate Our Waters weekend. It’s a series of fun events for families and individuals, and it’s a strategy by the Orleans Pond Coalition to build public involvement in initiatives that protect the town’s watersheds, estuaries, ponds and lakes. The public is invited to help kic...

ORLEANS — In the early 1980s, Police Lt. Kevin Higgins wore a different uniform. Clad in a lab coat, worn to protect the computers, he worked the midnight shift at Cape Cod Bank and Trust's data processing center. A colleague's husband, a state trooper at the Yarmouth barracks, would drop in for a coffee break. “He kept saying computers are the coming thing in police work,” Higgins recalled. Finally, he acce...

ORLEANS — If you missed last week's standing-room-only presentation on Pay As You Throw (PAYT) trash disposal and single-stream recycling—and you have the patience to sit through a few variance requests first—the conversation continues today (Sept. 19) after 2 p.m. at the board of health's meeting. The board joined the selectmen Sept. 10 for a public information session on switching to PAYT, which involves b...

ORLEANS — A new police station. A new DPW headquarters. A new tech school. And, coming down the road, a proposed rebuild of Nauset Regional High School and a library building project. You might say that some voters were edifice wrecks when they went to the polls in May and saw a $50,000 item for a “study to replace/renovate” the fire station near the bottom of the ballot. Although the study had sailed throug...

EASTHAM — Representatives of Orleans, Eastham, and Cape Cod National Seashore parsed a draft memorandum of understanding Sept. 9 at Eastham Town Hall and found ways to move forward on improving navigation and public safety in Nauset Estuary. Orleans, which is paying for a battery of environmental studies of the estuary, wants to see environmental questions related to dredging resolved and a multi-jurisdictio...