The Jonesborough Board of Mayor and Aldermen last week voted to accept a set of stipulations required by the Tennessee Department of Transportation to proceed with construction of traffic roundabout at the Five Points intersection of Depot Street and state routes 81 and 353.
The project, which has been on TDOT’s drawing table since 2009, will result in the demolition of the Five Points Grocery where store owner Kelly Street on Monday expressed her frustration with the town’s repeated failures to notify of her of pending action on a project that will eventually cost her and her husband and two longtime store employees their livelihoods.
Conceding that improvements are needed at Five Points and crediting TDOT for it efforts, Street said, “It’s a bad intersection, a rough intersection. I’m not having any trouble with the state. They’ve been out here surveying and they came in in September and said my business would be impacted and they would take my store.
“It’s the town down here that got the state involved,” and failed to notify her both times the project has come up for action by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, she said.
Town Administrator Bob Browning said Tuesday when the project was first brought before the board in 2009, TDOT gave Jonesborough two options for Five Points, a roundabout that could be built entirely with TDOT funding or a traffic signal for which the town would have to contribute about $100,000.
With a recommendation from Jonesborough’s Traffic Safety Committee, the aldermen voted for the roundabout. Prior to that vote, Browning said a packet of information about the project was prepared for Street but because of “a misfire in communication,” the package was not delivered until the day after the board’s meeting when he personally took the information to the store and apologized to Street for it not being delivered earlier.
When the project came back up for the board’s consideration last week, Street said the town again failed to give her notice. “It must be a secret. I didn’t know anything about it until I read about it in the paper.”
Asked about the second lack of notice to Street, Browning reiterated the response he gave at the board’s meeting on July 9 when Alderman Chuck Vest expressed concern that Street was not present.
Plans for the project have not changed since 2009 and TDOT’s request for the town to agree to its stipulations was a procedural step that did not require any further input at this time, Browning said, noting that TDOT will conduct a public hearing in the future to inform and gather the input of property owners and others who will be impacted.
“The town of Jonesborough has a communication problem,” Street said. “I don’t know what they think I’m going to do for a living. I’m 47 years old and I’ve got to work another 20 or 25 years. I have a college education, but this is all I have ever done. And I have two employees too.”
Speaking in favor of the roundabout at the July 9 meeting, Vest said it would be better for Street to lose her entire building and receive compensation for her property from TDOT than for her to lose only her parking lot for construction of a traffic signal that would effectively put her out her business without any compensation from the state.
Alderman Mary Gearhart opposed the roundabout, calling it “a recommendation for trouble,” but later joined Vest and Vice Mayor Terry Countermine in an 3 -0 vote to accept TDOT’s requirements for the town to notify the state Attorney General within 10 days of the filing of any lawsuit brought against Jonesborough as results of the project, to move utilities, to provide town right-of-ways and to maintain the roundabout without change once it is completed.
According to Street, the store has done business at the Five Points intersection since the 1940s when TVA flooded the town of Butler to build Watauga Lake and a Butler store owner purchased the property and moved his business to Jonesborough.
Before that, Street said, a trading post that dated back to the early 1900s occupied the building. Her father and mother, the late Charles and Mary Lou Willis bought the property in 1976 and her father ran the business continuously until his death in July 2009. Two weeks after Street inherited the store from her father, she said, the town voted in favor of the roundabout that will take the property.
“The public hearing is the next step, so far as I know,” she said. “If it goes to a jury trial, I won’t have a job so I’ll have time to go to a jury trial.”
OTMOM writes:
July 25, 2012
12:20 AM
This is awful. When are people going to wake up and see that developers will run both Jonesborough and Johnson City the moment that no one else is paying attention? Still, I think its safe to say these small time developers certainly dont have too much pull with the Attorney General.
DJM writes:
July 25, 2012
5:12 AM
I feel bad for her, however. The roundabout is needed and will be built. She will be compensated well by the state for her property and she will move on. An apology from the town, a check in hand and brighter days ahead. Move on!
dallasman writes:
July 25, 2012
7:30 AM
That's not the point DJM.... Lack of communication, bullying, and overall lack of leadership from our " leaders. There are always " misfires in communication". Is Kelly going to be compensated for 20 or 25 years that she could be working? I doubt it. The citizens of Jonesborough better wake up and make a stand. There needs to be a big change in our town leadership. I will not be voting for the people I voted for last year. Take note " leaders " I'm not the only one who feels this way.
NiteRider writes:
July 25, 2012
7:33 AM
That is a bad intersection, I think we can all agree on that. But compensating her for the value of the property and building is not nearly enough. I think she should be compensated for lost revenues as well.
truthful writes:
July 25, 2012
8:11 AM
Saying a apology doesn`t make it OK . It sounds like the town cares but they don`t. Apology is a word it don`t make things better
DJM writes:
July 25, 2012
9:37 AM
@dallasman: Kelly can move on, open another business with her compensation and continue working. The city/state is not taking away that right or opportunity. Will it be more difficult? Yes. Such is life. These things happen and this is not the first time something like this has happend in America. I would hate to see Kelly spend money on fighting a losing battle only to let the attorneys benefit from her lawsuit. Once negotiations begin I'm sure that Kelly will benefit from this. As for town leadership, please do exercise your right to speak out and to vote. Maybe you can change things, maybe not but you have the right to try. Progress can be difficult but for Jonesborough to survive, as a town and community... needs measured progress.
concernedforAmerica writes:
July 25, 2012
1:07 PM
DJM, does this not interfere with Kellys "pursuit of happiness?" (preamble to the constitution of the United States) Or does that apply to the individual anymore? And yes, what about her future income as well as the employees?
lococritic writes:
July 25, 2012
4:41 PM
since the 1940s when TVA flooded the town of Butler to build Watauga Lake... TVA buried an entire town...you can still see some of the buildings, the streets whenever there's a draw-down of the lake.
Big business and big government has always held sway in local politics. . .don't know where the rest of you have been. . .
5 Points should have been dealt with more fairly but then it's just another Mom & Pops going the way of the world...Nothing lasts forever, not even a store (before that a Trading Post), near a hundred years --at the same location?!
@DJM SURE... they can move their store location and at what cost? New set of economics sets in, new worries... How long you reckon before their old or possible new customers find them...They move anywhere on 11E and their costs of operation goes up, they will have to sell more items - compete more directly with larger stores, etc. Don't confuse progress with change...that's all they're getting is Change, nothing progressive about that...Only time will tell.
DJM writes:
July 25, 2012
4:41 PM
@concernd... That's a stretch. You can twist "pursuit of happiness" to fit most any situation. This is not something new or something targeted toward Kelly. This happens all of the time and people can/do/will survive... she will and her employees will. @ lococritic... Kelly's best bet is to relocate close to her old location or, at least, off of 11-E where she can enjoy lower costs and hopefully the same type of Mom/Pop type business as she has now. Nothing lasts forever. (You should know that!)
OTMOM writes:
July 25, 2012
5:44 PM
To DJM:
I don't think that the problem is with people twisting the pursuit of happiness- there are many ways to interpret the preamble to the dec of independence and one cannot forget that such a document was written for the purpose of standing up to a tyrannical regime and urging citizens alike to fight for what was rightfully theirs.
Furthermore, just because it does happen all the time, people are capable of overcoming the consequences of poor leadership, and you think that it will be the same in this case doesn't mean that its right. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself... why? Why are so many left feeling frustrated and annoyed when these things happen in our town? Could it be that the members of the town care more about each other than some of its leaders do?
DJM writes:
July 25, 2012
7:34 PM
@otmom: Do you actually think that Kelly's pursuit of happiness has been denied her? That's a stretch. One could also say that ones pursuit of happiness and safety would be denied if the roundabout were not being installed. See the stretch? All I'm saying is that it's a little late for Kelly to do something about "poor leadership." She'll receive a fair purchase price for her property and I'm sure she'll do just as great as ever after she moves, as long as she pursue's her happiness and doesn't this setback stand in her way. As for being frustrated and annoyed... that's pretty much the way it goes with when you don't agree with your governing body but... when you do agree... when they do something right... it's a totally different tune being played. The leaders of the town have to look at the town/community as a whole and decide what is best for the entire town/community. Unfortunately there are times when citizens and small business owners feel slighted... just stand back though and try to picture the "big" picture and not a small part of it. Don't forget to vote!
Beartlady writes:
July 26, 2012
12:29 PM
The purchase price Kelly was offered for her business was far from "fair". Early on in this situation I talked to the Governor's Office about this round about. He referred me to TDOT. I was unequivocally told, by TDOT, that the decision for the round about was made by "The Gang" in Jonesborough. TDOT just presented the options and Jonesborough made the decision without bringing Kelly into the discussion. This was a well calculated maneuver, so the decision would be in place and Kelly would not be able to argue her case. Saying I am sorry, after the fact, was without merit. Asking for forgiveness, not permission, shows lack of concern for anyone except one's self and cronies.
The decision to put in a round about had nothing to do with safety of the young people who might be using the round about, but only the money. A stop light would be the best, and simplest, option for the intersection. It would require removing some of the unnecessary island on the West side and putting in a left hand turn lane, with a turn arrow on the light. I do not see how this change would impact Kelly's parking on the East side.
By the way, Kelly did try to move on...applying for one of the two new liquor stores that opened in Jonesborough. She jumped through all their hoops, and I believe a few that the other applicants did not have to, but of course she was not selected because the applicants had already been decided by "friends & family". She should have at least been considered, because she already had a license to sell alcohol.
When "the wolf comes to your door" you will be looking for someone to help you. It is still not right for one (or five , in this case) to be sacrificed, for the many, or are we now reverting to pre-Columbian times?
Kelly has done everything she can to continue her business. For someone who has lived here all her life, I hope she sues the "pants off" the town because of the way she has been treated.