COASTAL OBSERVER

The town of Pawleys Island is considering a proposal that could buy more time for a beach house built in 1939 that could be torn down to make way for new construction under the town’s current regulations.

“The reason we bought it and spent so much time thinking about it is because we don’t want to tear it down,” Kirkman Finlay told the town’s Board of Zoning Appeals at a hearing last month.

He and his sister bought the Gibbes Cottage in 2020. The 2,300-square-foot house sits in the middle of 1.75 acres of beachfront property in the middle of the island.

The property was originally three lots when Caroline Gibbes bought it in 1938 for $3,600. According to a family history of the cottage, the plan was to sell half the property, but rapid erosion in the late 1940s and early ’50s prompted them to move the house back from the beach to the middle of the property.

Finlay wants to return the property to three lots, but leave the Gibbes Cottage sitting on two of those lots.

“Some of the best summers of my life were actually spent in that house,” he told the appeals board.

His family owned a beach house nearby for about 30 years, but sold it when a new, larger house was built next to it.

That new house was among the factors that led the town to adopt architectural guidelines for new houses in 2021. Since then, the town has focused on preserving nine historic homes listed on the National Register and other houses that reflect the “Pawleys look.”

“We took a dramatic hit” when the previous house was sold, Finlay said.

He told the board that he spent years talking with the town about the new house. “I lost a lot of comfort,” he said.

After buying the Gibbes Cottage, he obtained a demolition permit from the town.

Asked by board member Byron York to explain that, Finlay said “I need to know I’m not going to have the rug pulled out from under me.”

Finlay is seeking variances from the town setback requirements that would allow the Gibbes Cottage to sit on two lots. Those would only apply to setbacks between the new lots, Town Administrator Dan Newquist said.

There would be no variance of the setback between neighboring structures.

“Setback issues are common,” he said, adding that the adjacent homes don’t conform to the town’s setbacks.

The house has just over 2,300 square feet of heated space. Finlay wants to add to the second floor and expand the kitchen, taking it up to 2,975 square feet. He doesn’t want to change the look of the house, although he will replaces the asbestos siding. He will also add central heat and air conditioning.

“What we are simply asking for is the right to leave the house as it is with improvements, so one house would sit on two separate lots,” he told the appeals board. “Does that envision three lots? Absolutely. Why? Three daughters.”

The daughters are in their 20s and he doesn’t know whether they will want a Pawleys Island house in the future. He wants to leave each one with a beachfront lot rather than a third interest in a single lot, which he called an “illiquid asset.”

Last year, the appeals board approved a variance that allowed a 1940s house to be torn down on the lot that it shared with the 19th century Liberty Lodge provided the façade of the historic house be preserved along with trees on the property.

Board member Jerry Lieberman asked if Finlay would consider a similar “façade easement.”

Finlay said the Gibbes property will be owned by a family trust, which he didn’t think was able to grant an easement.

“The answer is most likely no, because at that point with a façade easement you could never demolish the Gibbes Cottage if you had to,” he said. “None of this is perfect.”

Finlay added that his hope is that someone will still see the value of the Gibbes Cottage in 40 or 50 years.

The appeals board also heard from former Mayor Bill Otis, who has a house nearby and was even closer to the former Finlay house. He said the Gibbes Cottage is worth saving.

“I think this is an attempt to preserve this historic structure while meeting other personal and family needs,” he said. “There is no question that it benefits the surrounding property owners.”

Beck Smith told the board that she first stayed in the Gibbes Cottage when she was “weeks old.” Now 82, she said she supports the idea of preserving the island’s look even as the houses are modernized.

“Nobody wants to live Arrogantly Shabby anymore, but at the same time we want to keep the flavor of the island,” she said.

Creating three new houses on the Gibbes property would have more impact on the island than tearing the cottage down and replacing it with one house, she said.

Newquist pointed out that the cottage could be torn down and the property subdivided.

“It meets all the criteria to be able to subdivide a lot,” he said.

The board met behind closed doors with its attorney, Greg Weathers.

Lieberman then moved to defer action so that Finlay could provide a plat with the proposed lot and building location.

“The zoning board just wants to be extra careful because we’ve had some problems in the past,” he said.

What the board is considering, Lieberman said, is a variance with conditions that would limit the size of any additional structure on the lots with the Gibbes Cottage.

“And we’d like to see Gibbes preserved for 10 years unless there’s some natural activity, a storm or something, that destroys it,” he said. “A window of time.”

The board will meet again in February.