Property Purchase Opinions to be Aired Thursday Night

Should the town of Hamilton buy the 85-acre Pirie property on Bay Road?

Town leaders will hear opinions from the public on Thursday night during a public hearing at Winthrop Elementary School. It starts at 7 p.m.

The Board of Selectmen has not taken a vote on whether it supports the town's purchase or not. A special Town Meeting is scheduled for June 11 where two-third of voters would need to approve of the purchase.

The Board of Selectmen - as well as other boards and committee - have been considering the town's first right of refusal of the property, which is also known as Aquila Farm.

The farm's owner has a purchase and sales agreement to sell the property for $3.9 million and the developer that hopes to buy it plans to subdivide it into six house lots.

The town has the first right of refusal because of a providion in state law known as Chapter 61 which grants tax breaks to land that is preserved as open space and farmland. The Pirie property has been under Chapter 61 since 1974 and the property's most recent annual bill for about $100,000 was lowered by about 25 percent under the provision.

The town, which would buy it at the same price, plans to build up to 50 cottage-style homes on the property and then keep the rest of it - about 70 percent - as publicly accessible open space.

The town plans to sell it to a developer that would build housing - both in style and price - that meets the town's housing goals.

A presentation about the property and the town's plan for it is attached to this story as a PDF.