Bay Road Horse Farm Plans to be Divided into Six Lots

The owners of Aquila Farm plan to go before the Hamilton Planning Board on Tuesday night with a plan to divide the 80-acre property into six lots.

It was unclear on Monday what the exact plan is for the six lots. Both the attorney listed on the application submitted to town officials, Jim Kroesser, and the real estate agent that has the property listed for sale, Lanse Robb, could not be reached for comment on Monday.

The entire property has been listed for sale and on Monday it changed its status to "under agreement." The entire estate was listed for $3.995 million. It is described in the listing as "one of the few authentic and fully operational equestrian estates on the North Shore."

The entire property is about 85 acres at 641 and 643 Bay Road, just north of Hamilton Cemetery and just about opposite First Congregational Church of Hamilton and the Bay Road intersection with Cutler Road.

While the property was being marketed as an 80 acre property, the Planning Board approved a three lot subdivision in 2007. At the time the Planning Board limited any further subdivision to six total lots. The latest real estate listing notes that the property could be subdivided.

The current plans calls for lots ranging in size from 3.38 acres to 32 acres. Other lots would be 5.04, 7.13, 8.92 and 28.68 acres each.

The Planning Board has a preliminary discussion about the plans at its meeting last month, Planning Coordinator Kristine Cheetham said. The request to the board is called a Approval Not Required, or ANR, a process does not necessarily require a formal permit from the Planning Board. Instead, the board reviews the proposed subdivision of land to make sure it meets the zoning requirements for lot size and frontage. The board, for example, could review the proposed placement of new driveways and could suggest slightly different lot lines, Cheetham said.

All of the new lots would sit along a private way that leads in from Bay Road. A horse right-of-way across the property would be maintained, according to the plans.

A major horse connection from Bay Road to Bridge Street runs across the property and recently became eroded and muddy and needed repairs, according to a trail update from Essex County Trail Association.

So ECTA bought the materials for the project and Aquila Farm owner Deirdre Pirie had her staff do the work.

"That alone saved the ECTA half the cost of the job," the organization said in a recent update.