After a short drive out of Southport along East Moore Street, the landscape gives way to open fields bounded by tall pine trees and marshlands that grace the banks of the Cape Fear River.

But it’s also along this short drive into the countryside that gave way to one of the largest clashes between governmental entities in recent years – the debate over 600 acres slated for the N.C. International Terminal.

The idea for the deep-water megaport was floated to handle up to 3 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of container traffic a year, according to preliminary plans, and compete with the likes of ports in Miami, Charleston and Norfolk.

In 2006, the N.C. State Ports Authority borrowed $30 million to pay for the undeveloped land in Brunswick County, while officials began studying the feasibility for such a facility. 

But after stiff opposition from Southport residents, environmental and regulatory hiccups and projected costs exceeding $5 billion for construction, a Maritime Strategy report last year concluded the state should simply invest in its existing port facilities in Wilmington and Morehead City instead. 

That left behind just the land and speculation as to what the Ports Authority can now do with the property that’s putting the squeeze on its bottom line – mostly because the authority cannot sell the property at the price it paid for it in 2006. 

“Bond payments are about $30 million,” said George Rountree III, chairman of the committee of governance and compensation for the Ports Authority and longtime Wilmington attorney. “It’s a sea anchor on our performance, and I think this board, the governor, the General Assembly and the [state] transportation secretary [Tony] Tata want to see that change.” 

The Ports Authority will start making payments in 2014 on the $30 million bonds – a total that does not include interest.

Jeff Miles, the Ports Authority’s acting executive director, said ports officials have not identified any specific plans or uses for the property.

“Those are decisions that will come from the board,” Miles said.

Rountree said he would like to see the General Assembly transfer the property off the Ports Authority’s books and pay off the debt – an idea he said he has not openly addressed with the board. 

“We have enough issues that we’re dealing with,” he said. “The $30 million is a headwind.” 

If the land is expunged from the Ports Authority’s ledger, Rountree said he would like to see the land handed over to the N.C. Department of Commerce and marketed as a future industrial expansion site – especially if any future plant moving in were to use the Port of Wilmington to export goods.    

Beth Gargan, spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Commerce, said officials with the office have no immediate plans to purchase, seize or market the property as a future industrial economic development site.  

“I think that would be an ideal situation,” Rountree said. “But the Ports Authority carrying the debt is a no-go.”  

Southport mayor Robert Howard agrees. 

“I would like to see them provide the property for sale or for lease for an industrial or commercial opportunity that would create more jobs for the community,” he said.

After the large-scale port project was announced seven years ago, Howard said the Southport Board of Alderman approved a resolution against the project, as did other local governments in the area.

Now, with the N.C. International Terminal effectively shelved, Howard said the vacant land was no good to southern Brunswick County or Southport since neither is receiving tax revenue from the state-owned land. 

“It’s having a negative financial impact on our community,” Howard said. “The property is adjacent to the city limits … we have the capacity to provide utilities to the site and any development nearby.” 

He said placing the property into the hands of a private entity could reap better benefits for the city and county.

“Right now, it’s not an asset to the state or anyone,” Howard said.

Michael Rice, co-founder of the Save The Cape organization that opposed the megaport, said the group was working to have the land preserved as a state park.

Rice added that the group would also like to see the location transformed into a filming ranch where crews could construct sets to be used in productions like Safe Haven, a feature film that shot around Southport last year.

Howard said he and fellow Southport officials also want to work with the Ports Authority to find other uses for the property other than a port. He said until such updated plans are shown to residents, the perception by locals is that the land still eventually will become a megaport. 

“There’re not holding that land without any anticipation of doing something with it,” he said. “The only reasonable surmise we can take from it is if the Ports Authority is going to hold ownership to the property, then it’s going to be a port … and that scares me.”

Click here to see related story about Ports Authority’s changing leadership.