Jones Petroleum withdraws annexation request for planned truck stop site

NEWTON COUNTY – Developers with Jones Petroleum (JP) and JPC Construction Company (JPC) have formally withdrawn a request to annex 45 acres of land intended for a truck stop site from unincorporated Newton County into Social Circle city limits.

Ashley Davis, community development director for the city of Social Circle, told The Covington News that both JP and JPC notified the city of its intent to withdraw the request on Thursday afternoon via email. The announcement was then posted on the city of Social Circle’s Facebook page.

It is not immediately clear why JP and JPC pulled their request from the city. The News has filed an open records request to obtain a copy of the email and has reached out to JP and JPC for comment.

JP and JPC first filed an annexation request with the city in June. According to a development of regional impact (DRI) filing with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA), property owner and JP CEO William “Bill” Jones sought to construct 86,270 square feet of buildings on Highway 11 near I-20. 

The construction efforts would have resulted in a commercial travel center with overnight truck parking, restaurants with drive-thrus, a hotel and three outparcels for potential businesses to lease or purchase.

In addition to annexation, JP and JPC sought a rezoning request, future land use amendment, variance amendment and a special use permit. 

But the Jones-led companies faced an uphill battle with both the city of Social Circle and Newton County.

On July 22, the Social Circle Planning Commission recommended denying the annexation request in a unanimous vote. Commission members and citizens expressed concerns over the location of the land, environmental quality and overwhelming citizen opposition as reasons for denial.

The week prior, the Newton County Board of Commissioners (BOC) unanimously voted to oppose the request, with commissioners citing discussion about the land in 2021.

JP and JPC previously attempted to build the proposed truck stop four years ago, but were denied by the BOC. After suing the BOC, both parties eventually settled on a scaled-down version of the site in late 2021 that would allow a convenience travel center, but no overnight truck parking.

But despite the go-ahead from the commissioners, the site was never built.

JPC CEO Jeremy Crosby told Social Circle Planning Commission members that inflation was to blame for the scaled-down site not being built, adding that the truck stop component was necessary.

“The cost since 2021 to build this facility has doubled—literally doubled,” Crosby said during the planning commission meeting.. “So that’s what makes it necessary to have that trucking component where we sell diesel fuel and provide parking for that as another revenue generator.”

But Newton County Commissioner Stan Edwards adamantly objected to this idea. Edwards specifically claimed that JP and JPC attempted to circumvent Newton County’s decision by attempting to annex into Social Circle.

“I want everyone to know when a man or an organization hears a county say ‘no’ as loud as they can say it—the government of that county and the people of that county—and he still opts to end-around and get around, you know it’s all about the dollars,” Edwards said at the planning commission meeting. 

This sentiment was echoed by Social Circle Planning Commission Chair Scott Gaither during the July 22 Planning Commission meeting.

“This is solely about limitations that Newton County placed upon the request five years ago, and this is an opportunity to skirt around that,” Gaither said. “[It’s] very similar to a child not getting what he wants from one parent and going to the next parent.”

With the annexation request out of the picture, the scheduled public hearing before the Social Circle City Council has been cancelled. The Social Circle council will instead vote to formally accept the withdrawal request on Aug. 19 at 138 East. Hightower Trail.

As for the future of the planned Jones Petroleum truck stop site, that remains unclear. 

JP and JPC remain permitted to build the scaled-down travel center that was approved in 2021, but there have been no indications on whether that will be built. As of this writing, the land is still owned by Jones after he purchased the property for $3.1 million in December 2021.