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As potential Pink House demolition gets more attention, could it be saved?
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said they've exhausted all options in preserving the Pink House. Some in the public are pushing them to try harder.
News that the Pink House — an iconic “spite” home on Plum Island that draws visitors and artists to the salt marsh land it sits on — will likely be demolished has resulted in public outcry from Newbury and surrounding communities.
Matt Hillman, the manager of Parker River National Wildlife Refuge where the Pink House is located, told a packed Monday meeting of around 150 people that included officials that sifting through public comments received through Nov. 30 could take months, The Daily News reports.
In that, he hopes to find an alternative to demolition.
But Hillman was clear: If no other options present themselves, demolition will likely be the end result.
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“As far as any decisions to extend this or prolong this, that is very much off the table,” said Hillman, who added that the refuge has to prioritize its mission to protect and preserve wildlife and their habitat. Beyond demolition, the refuge’s proposal has been to open the marsh to the public.
During Monday’s meeting, one resident in the audience, former state Sen. Kathleen O’Connor-Ives, called the timeline “contrived.”
The announcement of demolition also came as a shock to Support the Pink House, the nonprofit who partnered with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in order to save the Pink House, during a meeting with Hillman at the end of October. Less than 24 hours later, the federal agency posted their 30-day public comment period. Support the Pink House has since spent their time talking to media and the public in a last-ditch effort to drum up support to save the landmark, which the group’s president Rochelle Joseph calls “our CITGO sign.”
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“It is clear this was months in the making,” Joseph said. “We were still under the impression we were partners.”
Hillman has said since October’s meeting with Support the Pink House that the agency has exhausted all options after eight years of trying. Support the Pink House doesn’t buy it. Joseph said they haven’t done their part in widely publicizing this possible land trade — until now — and the group has felt left out of a partnership with the agency that has existed for several years.
In particular, the criteria for how the Pink House can be exchanged and out of the hands of government ownership — since it’s owned by the federal government, it cannot be sold on the market as usual — was discussed at Monday’s public meeting.
Hillman argued the criteria has been known among the parties from the start: An exchange of land for the Pink House can occur if it is approximately equal to the Pink House’s appraised value, which would fall between $400,000 and $500,000, and of greater ecological value than the landmark’s one acre. Hillman noted that the appraisal also expired in 2021, and in 2022 so did a non-binding agreement between the two parties that allowed them to work together to “make an exchange happen.”
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There is also one more condition that must be met. In an email from Hillman, it says “a landowner within 1-mile of refuge boundaries directly exchanges their lands for the Pink House (or sells their lands to an already identified restoration partner, who would then exchange for the Pink House).” But during the multiple unsuccessful attempts to locate a landowner, the agency looked beyond local options, including in Pennsylvania.
“When it became apparent that there were no more locally viable parcels with willing landowners, our realty team thought outside the box and searched regionally to make this happen, partnering directly with StPH for one potential deal,” Hillman said in an email.
Joseph said the agency flip-flopped on its location criteria, and even that the criteria had narrowed to the point that a trade would not be accomplishable.
She seemed hopeful, still, because of the support from the community and a resident who had agreed to be the landmark’s restoration partner more than four years ago. Support the Pink House said this resident would be willing to buy the land, then trade it with the agency, for those landowners who don’t want to end up owning the Pink House.
The call for potential demolition has also resulted in a resolution from the City of Newburyport sent to U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton and the refuge, as well as letters of support from the Newbury and Salisbury select boards addressed to the refuge, Moulton, U.S. Sens. Warren and Markey, and others. Joseph said Aimesbury also plans to send a letter in support of finding a suitable land exchange over demolition.
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“It’s not a done deal,” Joseph said. “We would like to hold them to their word. We know the public will hold them to their word.”
Both Hillman and Joseph said several people have come forward with potential land exchange deals since the demolition news was made public, but Hillman added they haven’t been viable. If something promising were to come forward, there is the possibility that the future of the Pink House is discussed through even next winter.
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