HARWICH — For the past dozen years town hall departments have had their doors open and staff has been working until 8 p.m. on Mondays as an exercise in convenience to working people who may not be able to conduct business on the usual 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. schedule. But that practice will be changing. Beginning in January, town hall will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. five days a week. As a tradeoff for provid...

HARWICH — The planning board will be acting on mixed use and site plan review special permits for the former Mill Store property located along Route 28 in West Harwich. The proposal calls for retail use of the existing building and the addition of a three-bay garage with an apartment above. The applicants seeking the special permits are Ty Cronin and John Doherty, who have the property under contract to purcha...

HARWICH — The Conservation Law Foundation has filed federal lawsuits against the Wequassett Inn and Wychmere Beach Club charging the town's two largest resort complexes with illegally discharging pollutants which are impairing the health of local marine waters. “Nitrogen pollution is killing the Cape's beautiful waterways,” Christopher Kilian, vice president of strategic legislation at CLF, said in a statement...

EAST HARWICH — With a splash of champagne on its bow, a 37-foot pontoon boat named the Friend of Pleasant Bay was officially commissioned Saturday afternoon as a floating classroom and research platform. “She’s the belle of the ball,” Pleasant Bay Community Boating President Ted Baylis said. His organization has officially taken ownership of the vessel from the Friends of Pleasant Bay, which purchased it. Th...

HARWICH – Just as it said it would in June, the Conservation law Foundation has filed federal lawsuits against the Wychmere Harbor Club and the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club alleging the resorts are illegally discharging nitrogen into Wychmere Harbor and Pleasant Bay. The CLF says the facilities discharge from 45,000 to 80,000 gallons of sewage per day into leaching fields that allow nitrogen and other pollu...

HARWICH — Selectmen Monday became the ninth town abutting Nantucket Sound to cast support for federal legislation seeking to establish Nantucket Sound as a National Historic Landmark. The legislation is being sought by the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the non-profit organization that fought and succeeded in pulling the plug on the Cape Wind project, which sought to build 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound...

HARWICH — Selectmen on Monday night approved a charge for an ad hoc parking committee that will examine municipal parking problems in town which are impacting public ways. The absence of public parking in the Harwich Port village was the impetus behind forming the committee, but it will look at issues town wide. “It's not an egregious problem all year long,” said Selectman Donald Howell, who drafted the cha...

HARWICH — Council on Aging Director Judi Wilson will have been on the job for just over a year when she leaves in mid-September to return to her former position as COA Director in the Orleans. Wilson tendered her letter of resignation to Town Administrator Christopher Clark on Aug. 10. Wilson took the position in Harwich last Sept. 5, replacing Barbara Anne Foley, who served as director for 18 years. “After...

HARWICH — Historic district and historical commission members expressed disappointment over the demolition of an 1860-era structure on Forest Street, which commissioners said went well beyond the scope of work originally identified in the notice of intent application. “I was very disappointed when I saw the house was completely demolished,” HDHC Chair Mary Maslowski said last week during a follow up hearing be...

HARWICH — The town has filed for a Massworks Infrastructure Program grant to assist with funding the proposed 3,300-foot sidewalk construction project from Saquatucket Harbor to Harwich Port. The project is estimated to cost $826,500 and the town is seeking $576,500 in the grant application. But as traffic increases along Route 28, the need for sidewalks in other high density commercial areas, such as the stre...

HARWICH — Senior citizens will be rolling around town in style with two new council on aging buses, one purchased by the Friend of the Council on Aging and another expected to be delivered in the next week or so from the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority. The Friends of the Council On Aging held a reception on Saturday for James B. Athens, who recently donated $100,000 in the name of his wife, Helen P. Athen...

HARWICH — A presentation made by Building Commissioner Raymond Chesley to selectmen shows building permit fees in the town are 57.2 percent less than the average of the surrounding communities on Cape Cod. The town has been looking at its fee structures in various departments and Chesley, in a public hearing last week on proposed fee increases, pointed out the fees in his department have not been raised since ...