If youâre new to the area, you may wonder how all that prime real estate sits empty on the west side of Pleasure Island. The land makes up about 2,100 acres and is owned by the US Army to be used as a protective buffer around the Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal (often referred to as MOTSU or simply Sunny Point) located on the west bank of the Cape Fear River.
MOTSU is a port designed specifically to handle explosive military cargo. In fact, itâs the largest ammunition shipping terminal in the nation. Most of the munitions going to Iraq and Afghanistan were shipped out of Sunny Point.
When a similar facility in Port Chicago, California exploded during WW II, 710 people were killed or injured, a whole town was destroyed and the shock wave was felt 500 miles away. In response, the Department of Defense created new safety guidelines for ammunition terminals.
When Sunny Point opened in 1955, each of its three wharves had an undeveloped, circular buffer zone around it with a radius of 2.5 miles (see map). In the event of a catastrophic explosion, the situation within the buffer zone can be described as âsevere death and destructionâ according to military personnel.
Post 9/11 military personnel at Sunny Point have stepped up security, but they will allow certain uses. They take each request on a case by case basis with fulfilling their military mission being their number one concern.
A large portion of Carolina Beach State Park (including Sugarloaf Dune) is on MOTSU land. Carolina Beach leases land for their sewer treatment facility, a few stormwater ponds, Mike Chapell Park and the Island Greenway. Kure Beachâs Joe Eakes park and the disc golf course are also on MOTSU land.
If you talk to old timers, theyâll tell you stories about hiking, fishing, camping and biking along the river in the good olâ days when the army was unconcerned about people using the area. Youâll also hear stories about the post 9/11 security presence resulting in military police roaming the woods on ATVâs, commandos dressed all in black, even frogmen popping out of the water and telling fisherman to leave the property.
Once upon a time a biking/hiking path was proposed to run along the river for CB State Park all the way to Fort Fisher. How sweet would that be? Might the army lighten up in the future? Perhaps⌠they did allow the Island Greenway just recently.
At the same time, theyâre also quite protective. The big black fence along the west side of the Island Greenway⌠that was required by MOTSU as a security precaution. The big, new signs that say âDo not exit your vehicleâ⌠also their idea.