Housing, Fire Station Gains Made 2025 A Year Of Progress In Orleans

ORLEANS – Goodbye 2025. Hello 2026.

 A new year always holds the excitement and promise of new beginnings, and Orleans is no exception. But before residents and local officials look ahead to what is sure to be another busy year on multiple fronts in 2026, it’s worth taking a look back on all that transpired in the past year.

 It was a year in which a number of long-anticipated projects and ventures found their way to completion, or at least came close to it. Housing projects years in the planning opened their doors to tenants, much to the delight of advocates that have long been fighting for the creation of more affordable and attainable housing on the Lower Cape. Progress on plans for a new fire station ended the year with a sense of hope that a much-needed new facility may finally be on the near horizon. 

As far as town projects go, few have been as widely discussed and slow to materialize in Orleans than plans for a new fire station. But after several years of false starts and hang ups related to the siting of a new facility, 2025 was the year that town officials found daylight on the highly anticipated effort.

In May, voters at the annual town meeting authorized a $4.5 million debt exclusion to prepare a design for a new fire station to replace the town’s current facility, which opened its doors on Eldredge Park Way in 1987. At the time, the town was looking at possibly building a new station in the vicinity of Orleans Elementary School, a proposal that stirred concerns from some about how construction would impact the school.

But those concerns were put to rest in the fall when the town began discussions with Dr. Greg Monfette, owner of Advanced Family Dentistry of Cape Cod, about purchasing the land on which his practice sits at 56 Eldredge Park Way. In November, voters at a special town meeting approved the use of $1.35 million in stabilization for the purchase, pending successful negotiations with Monfette. Mike Solitro, the town's special projects coordinator, said the town expects to close on the sale next week.

The approval positions the town to potentially put forth an article for May’s annual town meeting seeking construction funding for the new station. The dental practice would continue operating at the site on a lease with the town until the end of June 2027, when it is expected that ground would be broken on a new fire station.

 As in other towns across the Cape, the issue of affordable and attainable housing continues to loom large in Orleans. But the completion of two long-discussed projects last year has brought close to 100 new units online in town.

Construction on the 62-unit Phare development by Pennrose was completed in early 2025. All of the units are being rented as affordable, including 10 rented to individuals who make up to 80 percent of the area median income in Barnstable County, 43 for those who make up to 60 percent of AMI and nine for those who make up to 30 percent of AMI.

 The project also includes local preference for people who live, work and/or have children attending school in Orleans. More than half of the 616 applicants who applied for units qualified for local preference. A lottery was held in April, where selected applicants were allowed to begin the process of applying and being vetted for the available units.

Town officials and local housing advocates also celebrated the completion of another affordable housing project at 107 Main St. in October.

Plans for the 14-unit development overseen by Housing Assistance Corporation date back to 2019. The project is located at the site of a former Masonic Lodge and came into being after the property’s former owner, Cape Abilities, abandoned their initial plans for the parcel.

The project includes nine one-bedroom units, four two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit. Twelve of the units will be rented to tenants who make up to 80 percent of the area median income in Barnstable County. The remaining two will be rented to those who earn up to 30 percent of the area median income.

“This project is an example of what can be done when we all work together,” Select Board Chair Kevin Galligan said during the Oct. 23 ceremony to celebrate the project’s completion.

Looking ahead, HAC is working to convert the former Governor Prence Inn into housing alongside partners Preservation of Affordable Housing and Habitat for Humanity Cape Cod. That project is anticipated to go before the zoning board of appeals for permitting later this year.

In June, Orleans residents and visitors showed their true colors during the town’s first annual Pride weekend celebrations, including the inaugural Lower Cape Pride Parade along Main Street.

The weekend was spearheaded by residents Joan and Rick Francolini, who started planning for the event in July 2024. In January 2025, the select board endorsed the event, which in addition to the Saturday parade included programming at venues including the Cape Rep Theatre in Brewster. 

“I will tell you, there is nothing more important to members of the Queer community than to have support from allies,” Rick Francolini told attendees gathered on the Village Green ahead of the parade’s start.

In July, Oliver Ortolani, a former member of the Community of Jesus, filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court in Boston against the Community of Jesus and two other nonprofits.

 In the suit, Ortolani alleges that the Community, Arts Empowering Life, Inc., and Performing Arts Building Foundation, Inc., resorted to unpaid child labor and trafficking in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act in constructing the Community’s performing arts center in Brewster. 

 In the suit, Ortolani alleges that he was one of a number of boys who were forced to participate in work to build the center. He alleges that adults supervising the work had children up earlier than 5 a.m., “gave them 10 minutes for breakfast” and had them working “nine to 16 hours a day without proper safety gear, training or breaks.” It is also alleged that child workers were “assaulted” or “shunned by the Community” if they complained or showed “even mild frustration with the harsh regime.” 

 Children also were allegedly kept out of school under the pretense that the work on the center constituted “educational coursework,” according to the suit. Community members also allegedly hid children from government inspectors when they visited the project worksite.

 Ortolani is seeking a jury trial as well as “monetary relief in the form of compensatory and punitive damages and interest,” according to the suit. The suit also seeks the payment of legal fees incurred by Ortolani in bringing the suit, as well as the “disgorgement of profit” that the defendants received through the alleged free labor.

 The defendants, through their attorney, Jeff Robbins, have repeatedly denied the allegations. In November, the defendants filed their own suit in U.S. District Court against Oliver’s parents, Ellen and David Ortolani, who they allege were instrumentally involved in leading the work program through which the alleged behavior described in their son's suit occurred. The suit includes copies of waivers and releases that appear to be signed by Ellen and David Ortolani acknowledging their son’s participation in various aspects of the program.

 The Community, which was founded by Cay Andersen and Judy Sorensen in 1970, operates a compound that includes the Church of the Transfiguration off of Rock Harbor. The filing of the suit in July has led other former members to come forward and speak about their alleged treatment during their time in the Community.

 The select board has traditionally opted against a partial residential tax exemption for the town’s year-round property owners in favor of taxing all properties at the same rate. But last year, conversation grew around the idea of adopting a future exemption to provide year-round residents some financial relief.

 Voters at May’s annual town meeting approved funding that would allow the town to provide such an exemption in the future. The exemption, if adopted, would shift a percentage of the annual residential property tax burden off of the town’s year-round property owners and onto those who own seasonal properties. Orleans resident Tim Counihan, who drafted the citizen’s petition article in favor of the exemption that passed in the fall, argued that the exemption would apply to 92 percent of the town’s year-round residents, providing financial relief at a time where the cost of living across the Cape continues to exceed what working people and families can afford.

 Opponents to the exemption argue that taxing seasonal property owners to the benefit of the town’s year-round population is unfair and that the move would create unnecessary division between year-round and seasonal residents. 

 But with the May approval, the select board has begun the process of exploring how an exemption might be adopted, including at what percentage and when. The board voted against adopting an exemption for fiscal 2027 at the recommendation of assessor Brad Hinote. He said that the assessing department would need time to upgrade software and do what else is needed to accommodate an exemption, potential for fiscal 2028.