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Commissioners approve conditional use for truck parking at Bone Creek Road after neighbor protests, require Joy Cliff entrance and capacity limit
Summary
After extensive public comment, the board approved a conditional use allowing Nelson Buckland to park paving company trucks at 107 Bone Creek Road with conditions: use a new entrance off Joy Cliff, limit vehicles to existing capacity, and prohibit storage of asphalt on site.
The Jones County Board of Commissioners on April 1 granted a conditional‑use permit allowing vehicle storage associated with a paving business at 107 Bone Creek Road, but imposed operational conditions after several neighbors described safety, noise and road‑damage concerns.
The applicant, Nelson Buckland, told the board he uses the site to park dump trucks and a trailer and said he is willing to construct an off‑road entrance from Joy Cliff Road, repair any road damage and limit operations to prevent hazards. "I just wanna be able to use my shop. I wanna use my parking lot. I wanna get in and get out without it hurting anybody," Buckland said.
Neighbors voiced sustained opposition during public comment. Melody Harper, who lives two houses down, said the trucks force pedestrians and bicyclists to contend with long vehicles at the dead‑end street: "It's a family neighborhood ... we have a lot of older people that live there," she said. Mark Barnes told the board he called the company about road damage and said he was spoken to abusively; he raised weight‑limit concerns and said the combined truck and trailer weights he estimated exceed posted standards.
Steven Peavey and other residents raised safety and criminal‑history concerns, citing a November 17, 2023 incident at the site that involved shots fired and resulted in charges, according to Peavey’s account to the board. A petition circulated by neighbors showed 25 signatures from the subdivision’s 34 homes opposing commercial activity at the site.
Planning staff reported that the Planning Commission recommended denial (3‑1) but the property already contains a commercial parcel; commissioners discussed whether to allow truck parking without authorizing full paving operations. Commissioners who supported the permit emphasized mitigating measures. The board's approval includes these conditions recorded in the motion and discussion:
- An entrance shall be installed from Joy Cliff Road to avoid trucks backing into Bone Creek Road. - The county will limit vehicle parking to the site’s existing capacity (board discussion referenced four dump trucks currently on site). - No asphalt storage or hot mix operations shall be conducted on the residential parcel; vehicles are to arrive/depart empty and not store asphalt material on site. - The applicant offered to repair damaged roadway segments and to construct any required culvert or entrance work at his expense; that offer was noted by commissioners.
The motion passed on a voice vote. Commissioners and staff noted that the conditional use is subject to enforcement by county planning and permitting; neighbors were told enforcement channels remain available.
Ending: The board balanced neighborhood safety and road‑deterioration concerns against the applicant’s willingness to restrict operations and fund entrance/repair work; the conditional use was approved with operational limits and a requirement to shift truck access to Joy Cliff Road.
