Burleson to hold liquor-store option election
With enough signatures submitted on petition to city, Burleson City Council approves holding local-option election to allow liquor-stores to operate in Burleson
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BURLESON – At Monday’s city council meeting at City Hall, the city council approved holding a special local-option election for the allowance of liquor-stores to operate in Burleson November 5.
5,505 signatures on a local-option election petition were verified and accepted by the city February 27, meeting the 5,430-signature requirement to order the election, City secretary Amanda Campos announced in a presentation to the council. The signatures were submitted February 2 before the February 5 deadline.
Burleson business-owner Chad Johnson led the petition with Texas Petition Strategies because he wants to open a liquor store in Burleson and offer people and businesses in the area a more convenient option than driving to Alvarado or Fort Worth.
During the city council and planning and zoning commission joint public hearing on liquor-store zoning in the city before the city council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Dan McClendon recognized that allowing liquor-stores to operate in Burleson would potentially offer Burleson liquor-serving restaurants to pay lower prices.
“There’s a matter of capturing the sales tax outcome of this, sure,” McClendon said. “But I think, more importantly, the economic impact is to our locally owned small businesses that are here having to pay pejorative prices because there’s no competition and having to go through the trouble of transporting up and down the highway.”
Because Texas requires liquor-serving restaurants and bars to buy liquor in the same county they serve it, Burleson restaurants in Johnson County have to buy from the only liquor-store in the county, Alvarado’s Liquor Depot.
AJ’s Liquor operates in Gateway Station on South Freeway and a Spec’s liquor-store is being developed off FM-1187 outside of Burleson city-limits.
Voters will be able to vote whether to allow liquor-stores to operate within Burleson city-limits November 5.
Burleson resident David Miller opposed the city council’s acceptance of the petition results because he witnessed a petitioner lying to and telling signers the petition was opposed to allowing liquor-stores to operate in Burleson, Miller said during the public hearing. He added that he has experience dealing with prostitutes, liquor-stores and porn-stores and believes “Burleson is going to head straight down that path” and that supporting allowing liquor-stores to operate is a sin.
“Don’t be an administrator saying ‘This is good. Let’s bring in money. It’s going to do great for the town,’ and destroy the integrity of this city.” Miller said to the councilmembers and commissioners.
Burleson resident Mike Cobb expressed concern over liquor-stores operating in Burleson leading to increased drunk-driving, domestic-violence, substance-abuse and “general criminal-activity,” City Secretary Amanda Campos read from Cobb’s comments submitted online.
“The closer liquor sales get to our homes, businesses and public spaces, the greater the negative consequences to our community,” Cobb stated.
“This is up to the voters now,” Mayor Chris Fletcher said to Miller. “You need to get out and say your concerns. I heard the same statements made. They were saying that I was all for this. I’m neutral. I’m neutral. It’s not anything we’re doing here, so good luck to you. Get the word out. Get the people to go vote. It’s their right to vote.”
The city council and planning and zoning commission approved liquor-store zone-updates at the joint public hearing before the city council meeting at City Hall.
The city council and planning and zoning commission approved updating the zoning code to include liquor-store zoning in an effort to not allow liquor-stores to be built liberally across the city if voters elect to allow them to operate in the option election in November.
“All we’re doing is setting some guidelines so we’ll have some structure,” Planning and Zoning Commission chair Dan Taylor said during the hearing. “The public will be the ones that will decide whether or not liquor sales are voted on here in Burleson.”
The city will zone liquor-stores to be built and operated “by right” in industrial zones and allow for special-use permits in general retail and commercial zones. Allowing something to be built and operated by right in a certain zone means the builder/operator wouldn’t need special permission from the city council.
At the city council meeting January 8, the council discussed opting to allow liquor-stores to be built and operated by right in industrial zones because the industrial zones have regulations that’d prevent residential or commercial properties from being built adjacent to the liquor stores.
The council’s approved zoning updates will also not allow liquor stores to be built within 1,000 feet of each other or within 300 feet of Old Town or interstate-highway 35.
The council’s approved zoning updates include requiring new liquor-store buildings to be at least 5,000 square feet. This was the only change the council and commission made to the Burleson planning staff’s recommended updates. The planning staff’s recommendation was a 7,500 square feet.
Planning and zoning commissioner Ashley Brookman suggested lowering the minimum square-footage to make it more affordable for small-business owners to open a liquor-store.
Mayor Pro Tem Dan McClendon expressed concern over approving zoning that appears to make it easy to open liquor-stores.
“If this election takes place and this passes, then the citizens have pretty much spoken that they’re okay with having liquor stores within these areas,” McClendon said. “But what we set up in our zoning today may have an effect on the outcome of the election. If we make it appear too easy to populate the entire city with liquor stores, then perhaps some of the citizens are going to be more reluctant to vote in favor of it.”
The zoning updates will also require liquor-stores to have separate entrances for deliveries and customers, polycarbonate or shatterproof-filmed windows and increased landscaping standards for “beautification” and will prohibit walk-up/drive-through services.