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Developer buys Long Island, plans to build 155 homes
By Shannon Cavanaugh
Contributing Writer
Long Island speaks to the lost years of the South Carolina coast, with its marshes and live oaks that measure 90 inches around. Its natural beauty and history have tempted millionaire Joe Kimmel.
Kimmel recently purchased Long Island for $7.5 million under the name of K&A Acquisitions Group LLC. He and his partners intend to build 155 homes on the 143-acre island pieced together by small islands and inlets, marshes and relics of Civil War history.
Under Folly Beach codes, the island is zoned R-1, allowing for four homes per acre. Still, the preliminary plat that was filed last September is drawing quite a bit of controversy from historians and nature lovers.
“The site is sacrosanct; it’s sacred, and we’re losing history rapidly,” said Blake Hallman, a spokesman with the Morris Island Coalition.
“I think the developer is trying to pull a negative ploy on us, showing us plats where they are cramming houses on the island, and then they’ll come back and say, ‘but we’ve cut it in half,’ so that it looks better and we accept it. They’ve said they would protect two Civil War sites, but when the preliminary plats came out, they had houses built on top of them.”
Hallman says Union soldiers built two forts on Long Island. The outline of one fort and trench is still visible some 140 years later with its cloverleaf pattern. In the middle of the island, the soldiers built a prison and hospital with a two-gun position wall still standing. It is not unusual to find pieces of cannon balls fired from across the marsh as the Confederates dug in on James Island.
Folly Beach planning commissioner Jim Gresham often visits Long Island to bask in its solitude and most recently surveyed the trees on the island for the planning commission. He found large huckleberry trees and huge live oak trees that “were too many to count.”
“Looking at their plat, the road to the proposed subdivision is going straight down the middle of the narrow island,” said Gresham, “and everything in its path must go, including all those old, old trees. I just can’t imagine anyone cutting them down.”
K&A Acquisitions was scheduled to speak Jan. 9 at the Folly Beach planning commission and listen to the public, but they asked for a delay. K&A Acquisitions has hired attorney John Hagerty with Nelson, Mullins, Riley and Scarborough in Charleston to represent them and speak, but Hagerty said he needed more time to prepare.
“I have recently been asked to represent K&A Acquisitions regarding Long Island. I am sorry that anyone was inconvenienced by (our) deferring at the last meeting. I simply did not have all the information I needed and wanted to talk to some of the opposition interests before the hearing,” Hagerty said.
“As you know, there is often a healthy tension involved in developments of this sort. My goal is to address as many issues as possible and see if there is some sort of mutually acceptable development plan.”
A tough job for Hagerty as those opposed to the development say there is no room to negotiate.
“I want it left in its natural state, untouched,” said Councilman Eddie Ellis, who is running for mayor. “There is no compromise.”
If that is the case, then city council will have to change the zoning of Long Island. Folly Beach Zoning Administrator Aaron Pope said Kimmel and his K&A Acquisitions Group are following the laws as zoned by the Folly Beach City Council under the R-1 residential zoning.
“All the lots meet the requirements of minimum standards of our subdivision zoning ordinance,” said Pope. “They have even offered to put in a 30-foot buffer from the outside edge of the marsh and a 20-foot interior vegetation buffer. This is not required by our city’s zoning.”
For Kimmel, Long Island and other development projects are just “kind of a personal thing on the side,” said his general counsel Miles Alder. Kimmel founded Kimmel and Associates, which is based in Asheville, N.C., and employs 100. It is now considered the nation’s largest executive search firm specializing in construction.
Kimmel is known for his philanthropic work, most recently pledging $6.92 million to Western Carolina University and $2 million to the University of North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness. He owns several properties on Folly Beach.
K&A Acquisitions was formed specifically to purchase Long Island. The purchase included the causeway between Long Island and Little Oak and two lots. Despite what South Carolinians call the last of a virgin island, Alder said that is not true.
“In the 1950s, as I understand it, the island at one time had a road on it and cows grazing. It’s not as pristine as they’re making it out to be. With the marshland, we’re trying to do what is right, where people can live and enjoy the island,” said Alder. “I don’t blame Folly Beach (for the hostility toward the project). We’ve done a very poor job of communicating with the city and the state and defending our positions.
“We’re trying to follow the best development practices. We want to set it up so people can live there and visit there and enjoy it,” Alder said.
“There’s always a lot of anxiety about change.”
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