The state may be closer to buying more than 400 acres in Southport, a move that would lead to the permanent conservation of property teeming with habitat that supports federal- and state-listed species.
Earlier this month, the Southport Board of Aldermen agreed in a majority vote their intent to sell the tract to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission for $660,000.
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Board members pushed a formal offer to sell at the request of Brunswick County because of ongoing talks between the two governments to merge water and sewer service.
During the Feb. 8 meeting, Mayor Richard Alt asked aldermen to hold off on voting, noting the county asked for additional time and that the city’s attorney recommended the pause.
“I’m not trying to stop,” selling the land, he said. “What I’m trying to stop is us selling it now when we’re in negotiations with the county and have been asked not to do it by the county and our own attorney, that we hired specially to help us through this transition period, told us don’t do it now.”
Brunswick County Communications Director Meagan Kascsak confirmed in an email that county officials suggested the city consider “waiting to decide on the future of this property for a short period to give the County time to consider whether there is a potential beneficial use for the land related to utility services.”
“However, this piece of property belongs to the City of Southport and their leadership has the right to decide whatever action they feel is best for the organization and the property,” she wrote in the email. “Any decision the City might make would not impact our continued collaboration with the City on the potential merger agreement.”
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The city bought a majority of the tract in 2005 with plans to use it as a spray irrigation site for a new sewer plant. But the city eventually opted out of building a plant, ultimately deciding to merge its water and sewer with the county.
The Wildlife Resources Commission for the past few years has been eyeing the property, which borders ammunition port Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, or MOTSU, with hopes of expanding the game land footprint in the area. The property is adjacent to the state’s Green Swamp Game Land.
Ben Solomon, assistant chief and land acquisition manager of the commission’s Land and Water Access Division, said the agency is moving forward with plans to buy the tract.
“The Commission has raised sufficient grant funding to purchase the tract at the appraised value of $660,000,” he wrote in the email.
About two years after the state wildlife agency expressed an interest in buying the land, a commercial construction firm tossed in an offer to the city to buy or lease no fewer than 50 acres.
The Polote Corp. wants to mine clay-like material from the land, move it next door, and use it to build up eroded earthen berms that buffer ammunition and explosive areas within the Army installation.
The Savannah, Georgia-based company previously mined a portion of the property to do the same thing more than a decade ago.
Polote representatives explained to city leaders back in late 2022 that the land’s proximity to MOTSU made it particularly desirable because the next closest areas that contain material suitable for berm-building were a little more than 40 miles away.
But the potential mining of that property has raised concerns among some town residents about the impacts to habitat and wildlife, including federally endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers and dozens of state-listed species of amphibians and reptiles, water quality issues related to runoff, and septic issues.
Southport Alderwoman Karen Mosteller said during the board’s Feb. 8 meeting that because of the land’s proximity to the 16,000-acre ammunition port, the largest in the country, the federal government prohibits development on the property.
“It’s with these restrictions it seems inconsistent that we would ruin the land that has this highest conservation value for its dirt when there are already over 35 open sand mine permits in Brunswick County. So, there’s plenty of places for them to get sand and dirt in Brunswick County,” she said.
Solomon said there is a safety easement on the tract.
“This safety easement contains language that restricts human habitation, erection of new structures, as well as the number of persons allowed to attend events hosted on the property without written permission form the appropriate Government personnel,” he said in an email. “At this time, the Commission has no concern with the safety easement, and we do not anticipate the easement hindering our management or planned uses.”
The board’s vote stipulates the city enter into an agreement with the Wildlife Resources Commission to sell 431 acres of the 441-acre property, leaving 10 acres under city ownership.
