Planning panel recommends disapproval of paving‑company conditional use at 107 Bone Creek Road

The Jones County Planning and Zoning Commission recommended disapproval of a conditional‑use request from Nelson Buckland to allow contractor storage and overnight parking of paving equipment at 107 Bone Creek Road.

Buckland told the commission he stores his dump trucks and equipment at the 1.5‑acre site and does not operate a business there, saying vehicles are parked overnight and dispatched to jobs the next morning. His wife, Tiffany Buckland, told the board she conducts office work from home and that the commercial building is used primarily for storage.

Numerous neighbors opposed the request, citing repeated road damage, blocked roadways from parked trucks and car carriers, noise, safety concerns for school buses and local traffic, and a long‑running problem they attribute to both Buckland’s operation and an adjacent repo/car carrier operation. Burton Harper said large trucks exceed posted weight limits and have “torn up” subdivision roads; Steven Peavey and others described equipment and carriers regularly blocking Bone Creek Road.

Neighbors also argued the property’s mix of zoning (C2, C1 and R1 portions) and the nature of contractor storage might require a heavier industrial zoning; one resident cited section 67 of the county code, saying contractor storage and equipment yards are treated under M‑1 zoning when not properly screened or fenced.

After extended public comment the commission first considered a motion to recommend approval; that motion failed for lack of a second. A motion to recommend disapproval was then moved and seconded and passed; the chair recorded the final recommendation to disapprove and said the disapproval will be forwarded to the county commissioners, who will make the final decision. The transcript records the final recommendation as disapproval with three members opposing the conditional use and one member in favor.

The commission and staff discussed that portions of the parcel are commercial (C2 and C1) and that similar contractor trade shops have previously been considered as conditional uses in C2 districts; however, the volume of public complaints about road damage and blocking, and the presence of other large‑truck operations nearby, weighed heavily in neighbor testimony and among some commissioners.

The commission’s action is advisory and will be forwarded to the Jones County Board of Commissioners for their final decision; residents were told they may present testimony at the commissioners’ hearing.