Statement from Support The Pink House

To our dear Pink House community,

We want to thank everyone for your incredible patience as we all awaited news.

Governor Healey and her staff, Senator Tarr, and Rep Kassner worked diligently since the Governor stepped in to stop the demolition on 10/30. They hoped to achieve the win for all that has always been possible with The Pink House.

Rest assured they met with the right people, including decision makers at the highest positions within FWS and the DOI. Several prime new parcels of acreage, most abutting refuges Matt Hillman manages were offered, along with the former ones Support the Pink House submitted, by the Governor’s office. All were denied.
After all of that work, the only option FWS would allow was no different than what they offered for the auction -to move the house to another location within 90 days, a crippling time frame.

We are all incredibly disappointed at the absolute waste on FWS part of an incredible opportunity to swap this one acre for up to 400+ new acres of land to conserve, and fulfill the deal they came to us with saying land swap would be so beneficial to their mission.

The donors intention was to restore the house in place, aligning with the public’s desire, which also formed STPH’s mission. However, when faced with the prospect of The Pink House being gone forever - or moving it to a similar location, specifically within the vista - we all decided to at least explore the option.
STPH and the donor worked together all through the holidays, consulting experts and service providers. Ultimately the hurdles proved untenable, and what might work simply needed more time for proper due diligence.

FWS cited March 31 as an absolute deadline citing the Migratory Bird period. That ends in June, which, Matt Hillman said at a December meeting, is why they planned the auction for July. They could have easily granted the extension so the proper due diligence could be done. The elected officials and the angel donor asked them repeatedly to extend the deadline the few months till June. FWS refused.

Land was extremely limited, and initial outreach was discouraging/wasn’t fruitful. A consequence of moving PH to purchased land is that it would exhaust the million dollars, leaving a boarded up house on pilings without the funds to restore it – a result far from what we were all working to achieve. Senator Tarr sought a nonprofit end user, and while discussions were had with two promising groups, again, their due diligence would not be accomplished within the time frame FWS set.

Moving The Pink House it would also affect the perpetual preservation restriction we worked so hard to achieve to keep the house’s signature silhouette, size, color and prevent it from being demolished. Efforts to extend the time just three months - past the Migratory Bird season, was repeatedly requesteD to no avail.

It’s really disappointing to leave opportunities worthy of exploration unfulfilled, due to the time limits FWS imposed.

We are extremely grateful to Governor Healey, Senator Tarr, Rep Kassner and their staffs who, seeing the incredible value The Pink House brings to the State and this region, lent their substantial powers to this effort.

We all should be proud of the efforts put forth. You called and emailed FWS and the federally elected officials, signed petitions and cards, came to rallies, donated, came to meetings, passionately commented across social media, shared the word, wrote letters to the editor, commented on media postings anywhere you found them, came out to visit, photograph, and paint the house in all seasons, under the moon, the milky way, the northern lights, sunrises and sunsets.

Our work, and the many generous souls who helped us along the way, have allowed The Pink House to remain in its rightful home for nearly a decade longer that it would have, if FWS had not been stopped.

It is hard to effectively say thank you to our donor’s unbelievably generous offer. Or to our Governor for stepping in to stop the demolition, and, together with her impressive, talented staff, took this to a higher level. To Senator Tarr for his many efforts on this project throughout the years and for taking a stand for this region, joined by Rep Kassner.

It should not go unnoticed, that due to these people’s actions, The Pink House did enter its hundredth year as our icon. We are all so grateful for that alone.
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