Mrs. Pirie: 'Biggest Problem is Risk'

Diedre Pirie, the woman who has owned Aquila Farm for 53 years, broke her silence days before Tuesday's Special Town Meeting vote in Hamilton where voters will decide whether the town will purchase the 80-acre farm.

Pirie said on Friday her biggest concern is that the town will buy the property but not be able to sell a portion of it, as proposed, to a developer who would build senior housing on the property.

For two years, she had the property listed for sale and not until an offer from UpperCross Development - the Boston-based developer whose purchase and sale agreement triggered the town's right of first refusal to buy the property - was there any interest.

"Nobody made me an offer on it," she said, despite marketing efforts by real estate agent LandVest. The price was lowered several times.

"The market has not been good," she said. "And this isn't everybody's idea of a perfect house."

On top of that, at 75-years-old she was hoping to reduce the cost of her home.

"The taxes were just killing me," she said about her most recent decision to sell, adding that she can no longer afford to run the farm they way she wants to. "I'm having fits because there are weeds all over the garden."

And before than, she had her home and about 30 acres on the market for about $1 million in 2002 with "no serious offers." That's when she decided to tear down the home on the property and rebuild it as "handicapped friendly."

Pirie said she will receive the same amount of money no matter who buys the property. She has a signed purchase and sales agreement with UpperCross Development which has an approved plan to subdivide the property for up to six homes. Because of tax breaks given to the property for many years to keep its agricultural and forestry uses in place, the town has the first right to refusal on the property.

Pirie said she has already has purchased a new home in Ipswich.

"We are being asked to vote to spend money first, then we can have input later on what we want the development to be like," she said, calling it putting "the cart before the horse."