Rezoning approved for Dunkin’ Donuts project

It’s donut time in Tennessee’s oldest town ­ — well, almost.
Members of the Jonesborough Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved on second and final reading a rezoning of property it recently agreed to sell to Mountain Empire Oil.
The company owns the Shell gas station at the intersection of Highway 11E and Boone Street. With the additional .445 acre to be purchased by Mountain Empire Oil from the town, the convenience center can now be torn down and rebuilt to include a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise.
The rezoning of the property from B-4 to B-3 will make it compatible with the current Shell station property.
“Let’s fry some donuts,” Alderman Chuck Vest announced in making a motion to allow the rezoning of the property.
The vote also included a provision remove the land from being classified as part of the historic district.
The motion garnered unanimous approval. It followed a public hearing on the topic earlier in the evening at which no residents spoke in favor or against the rezoning.
Mountain Empire Oil is purchasing the land from the town for $75,000. Company leaders previously indicated that once the project gets under way, it will be completed in just 120 days.