NEWBURY — Passionate supporters of the Pink House packed PITA Hall on Monday morning to let their concerns be known to a federal government looking to tear the building down.
The 9.2-acre property is located in the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and owned by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which bought it for $375,000 in 2011. The Pink House rests on a roughly 1-acre plot of land off Plum Island Turnpike with the remaining acres mostly salt marsh.
Although the federal government has been working with the local nonprofit organization Support The Pink House since 2015 to come up with a potential land swap agreement to save the house, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Nov. 1 that it was beginning a 30-day public comment period in preparation for an environmental assessment. That assessment includes a proposal to tear the house down to potentially make way for a universally accessible observation platform.
Star Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, set up Monday morning’s public conversation, which saw a standing room-only crowd of roughly 150 people fill the public hall.
Refuge manager Matt Hillman told the crowd he has been overseeing the refuge for the past three years and stressed a decision has yet to be made.
“Everybody in this room has something valuable to bring to the table, everybody in this room has something that we will evaluate, if you submit it to public comment,” he said.
Hillman started with the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in 2020 and said a local landowner was willing to make a land swap in either 2017 or 2019 but a conservation restriction kept the deal from going through. Fish and Wildlife then found a viable parcel of land in Pennsylvania, but the deal fell through within two weeks of closing.
“That seller backed out, for reasons I don’t know, and it is no longer viable,” Hillman said. “Now, we are back to keeping it local, which I think is beneficial.”
Hillman asked anyone with a decent plan to save the Pink House to submit it to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge before Nov. 30, when Fish and Wildlife Service will then spend roughly two months going over proposals and is expected to make a decision sometime over the winter.
“There are potential options that are still locally viable that we will work through over the coming weeks,” he said.
The Fish and Wildlife Service can acquire land anywhere in the U.S., as long as it is located within a mile of an existing national wildlife refuge, according to Hillman who added it is illegal to sell refuge land.
Any parcel that is acquired by Fish and Wildlife must be of an approximate equal monetary value as the proposed land it would be swapped for, according to Hillman.
“That has been the No. 1 challenge in this area,” he said. “The Pink House has been appraised at approximately $500,000. By contrast, salt marsh acreage is plus or minus $1,000 an acre. That has been an incredible challenge to try to find a landowner who is willing to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service and who has 400 to 500 acres of salt marsh and/or uplands to be able to exchange for the house.”
Any proposed land for a swap agreement must also have a greater ecological value than the 1-acre Pink House subdivision, according to Hillman who said salt marsh would be the first priority.
“When we look to conserve wildlife habitat, now and in the future, salt marsh is our future,” he said. “That is what we hope to protect and that’s what we’re looking to restore.”
Plum Island resident Eric Rosenthal suggested the Pink House was an historic building, and would therefore fall under the protection of the refuge.
“This is a value that matters to us and it is not just up to the Fish and Wildlife Service to preserve species,” he told Hillman. “It is part of your mandate to preserve our home and our history and our culture. The outpouring of support today needs to be taken into consideration.”
Hillman said he appreciated Rosenthal’s words and wants to find a viable solution for the property. But, Hillman added, he must be realistic.
Newburyport resident Stephanie Niketic spoke on behalf of Support the Pink House and said the property was included in the Massachusetts Historical Committee’s inventory of historic and archaeological assets, therefore qualifying for the protections of a perpetual preservation restriction.
“The commonwealth of Massachusetts has declared the Pink House and the land that it sits on as historically and culturally important,” she said.
Hillman said if the property was eligible to be similarly listed on the National Register of Historic Places, then he would have more room to maneuver.
“If it were, maybe this is a different conversation, maybe it is not,” he said.
Former state Sen. Kathleen O’Connor-Ives took issue with the federal government’s process so far.
“To say that this is the public’s only chance and a decision will be made at the end of this winter or after the holidays, to me, leaves me concerned that it is a contrived timeline,” she said.
Hillman responded by saying he has exhausted every option available but added the timeline for a final decision could, indeed, be stretched out until the spring or maybe even next winter.
“I don’t know what will come of this,” he said. “But there is a window that is open and I’m very open to people who tell me they have a solution. Great, I want to hear it. This is the public process and I haven’t made any decision, whatsoever.”
Local attorney Jeffrey Roelofs said Support the Pink House signed an agreement with Fish and Wildlife three years ago, outlining the steps the nonprofit organization would need to take to save the property.
“They’ve done that at a huge expense,” he said.
Roelofs agreed the federal government was trying to make a deal happen but added Support the Pink House is looking for a commitment to keep trying.
“There’s really no reason not to,” he said. “It’s a win-win.”
Newburyport Mayor Sean Reardon, at-Large City Councilor Mark Wright and Ward 2 Councilor Jennie Donahue, Salisbury Selectmen Chuck Takesian and Michael Colburn, Newbury Select Board members Geoff Walker, William DiMaio, Dana Packer and Leslie Matthews, as well as state Rep. Kristen Kassner, D-Hamilton, also attended Monday’s meeting.
Anyone interested in submitting a comment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by Nov. 30 should email parkerriver@fws.gov.