Several residents of the Homestead Ridge community in Dixie are still seeking answers and addressing concerns regarding a proposed Love’s Travel Stop in the area, continuing to attend meetings of the Forrest County Board of Supervisors to see what – if anything – can be done to stop construction of that development for fear of crime, drug use and other safety concerns.
Although supervisors had previously said they had not received confirmation that the truck stop was indeed locating to the intersection of Elks Lake and Ira Hudson roads, residents on Monday said they have received word that land has been sold to a developer. That individual will allegedly work with Love’s officials to construct the site at that location.
“To my knowledge, it’s coming,” said Dr. David Bomboy, who developed the Homestead Ridge neighborhood and still lives there. “Everybody out here is upset, and in my mind, the primary issue is safety.
“I just passed by two 18-wheel dump trucks (near the proposed site), and I got run off the road because when they passed each other, they had to run off the road to pass each other. That road is a country lane … school buses go on that road all that time, and there are two schools (nearby). It’s just not safe to have 18-wheelers passing each other on a road that’s not 20 feet wide.”
Unfortunately for the residents, supervisors say their hands are somewhat tied in the matter, because the county, unlike municipalities, does not have zoning laws in place that would prevent the truck stop from locating there. District 5 Supervisor Chris Bowen said that enables county residents to do what they want with their land, without government interference.
“That means that if somebody wants to put up a pig farm, a shooting range, chicken houses or a bar right next to your house, they can,” he said. “If they want to put their tractor, a clothes line, and old washing machine or let their dog roam free in their front yard, they can.
“Until we’re petitioned to put county-wide zoning on the ballot – which I’m convinced the vast majority of my constituents who live outside the municipalities don’t want – I’ll continue to support each individual’s right to have dominion over their own property.”
But Bomboy said there are better places to locate the truck stop – such as the Hattiesburg-Forrest County Industrial Park, which is right down U.S. 49 from Dixie – because such a business does not fit in with the Dixie community.
“This area is known as a residential community; it’s not an industrial community,” he said. “There’s a difference between having a Dollar General or just a standard gas station, and having a mega-site industrial truck stop.
“It’s just totally out of character of the area, the neighborhood and the safety issues.”
Dannie Kibodeaux, another resident of Homestead Ridge, has lived in the neighborhood since May of 2005, and said he understands where Bowen is coming from on the zoning issue. However, Kibodeaux said if he would have known about the Love’s Travel Stop back then, he never would have considered moving to the area.
“If I had come up Elks Lake Road and seen that truck stop there, I would’ve done a U-turn and gone right back away,” he said. “We’re less than a mile away from that. Everybody seems to be in favor of economic development, but nobody wants this business right next to them.
“And that’s absolutely right – we have a two-lane road out here, there’s school bus traffic, there’s kids driving to (Presbyterian Christian School). You can stand in that property, and less than a hundred yards away, there are residences – you can throw a dart and hit something, just about. It’s not that I’m not in favor of economic development or don’t want a business here – I just don’t want that one, because I think you have a lot of safety concerns, health concerns.”At the May 15 board meeting, one Homestead resident addressed safety concerns with the ingress and egress of trucks that would come with the new business. David Hogan, president of the Forrest County Board of Supervisors, said the station’s ingress and egress would have to meet specifications by the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
“I believe we can put up signage to prevent them from coming out there and turning north, towards the homestead,” he said. “That bridge on Elk’s Lake Road toward (U.S) 49 is posted (with a weight limit), and we can put additional signage up closer to where (the truck stop’s) location is, to prevent them from going that way.
“But Warren Paving is right there (one Elk’s Lake Road), and those trucks are heavy when they come out of there pulling that asphalt, and we have on a regular basis kept them from running some of our county roads. And we’re not just picking on them – we get on to everybody … because we try to keep heavy truck traffic down.”
According to the Love’s Travel Stop website, the business was founded in 1964 and headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It owns more than 600 locations in 42 states, with more than 38,000 employees throughout the company.
“I can’t say I blame (the residents for not wanting the truck stop), and that’s why I live inside the city limits, where there are those protections,” Bowen said.
