Published: June 18, 2009 09:19 am      

Wet out west?

Annexation could lead to alcohol sales on county’s west side

Galen Scott

gscott@weatherforddemocrat.com

A developer interested in building a shopping center a short distance outside Weatherford’s western boundary recently contacted Parker County Judge Mark Riley.

“He was talking about putting in a shopping area and was wondering about the process and what they could to do sell alcoholic beverages,” Riley said of the developer, whom he did not identify. “My response to him was, he needed to consult his attorney.”

With Weatherford’s recent embrace of alcohol sales and construction of the county’s Western Loop moving forward hand-in-hand with the city’s western annexation effort, alcohol availability on the county’s west side could change.

City and county officials agreed earlier in June Weatherford will annex the portion of right-of-way associated with the planned “Western Loop,” a new highway slated to curve from the intersection of Old Brock Road and Interstate 20 northeast to the intersection of Hawkins Lilly Road and FM 51 North.

Under the compromise, residents living in the area between Weatherford’s current boundary and the new loop would remain in unincorporated space, which is contained within Justice of the Peace precincts 2 and 3 where alcohol sales are currently not allowed.

A citywide local option election is required before the newly annexed right of way can become “wet,” like the rest of Weatherford, where beer and wine is sold in convenience and grocery stores, and distilled spirits are available at new liquor store locations.

“If and when they do that, the new area doesn’t automatically become wet,” Scott Jones, a senior official with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), said of the city’s annexation plan. “They have to hold another election to wet down that new area — it’s not automatic or grandfathered or anything like that. As the city expands, and they annex more property, they have to have elections to wet down those new areas.”

Because Precinct 3 is dry, there are no liquor stores allowed along Interstate 20 on the west side of Parker County. But that could change if Weatherford’s current alcohol status is extended to retail establishments expected to operate along the Western Loop.

If a petition signed by 35 percent of the registered voters in Weatherford who voted in the 2006 gubernatorial election is presented, alcohol sales in the annexed area could be prohibited or legalized. The petition driven process would likely not include residents of the adjacent unincorporated area.

“I’m just guessing here, but I would say the people who live in that affected area — in that city — would be the ones voting, but not necessarily the ones that live in that precinct, unless they’re having a precinct election,” Jones said.

Following the repeal of prohibition in 1933, all Texas counties were presumed dry. If a majority of citizens voting in a local option election favored alcohol sales, businesses in the area were allowed to begin selling alcohol.

Any municipality, justice of the peace precinct or an entire county can hold a local option election to make a formerly dry area wet, or to make a formerly wet area dry.

For 15 years, the City of Hudson Oaks, funded primarily by sales tax revenue, was the only municipality offering liquor sales in Parker County. A local option election authorized the sale of distilled spirits there in 1992.

Willow Park, which also relies heavily on sales tax revenue from businesses in the Interstate 20 corridor, started selling beer and wine with alcohol concentrations less than 17 percent following a local election in 2005.

Weatherford voters authorized the sale of liquor, beer and wine in November 2008.

Other rules allow restaurants with certain TABC permits to sell alcoholic beverages for on-premise consumption.

In Hudson Oaks, restaurants are only allowed to serve alcohol if they hold a private club license, which requires customers to become members. Private clubs are not required to produce as large a percentage of total sales from food, compared with eateries holding a Mixed Beverage Restaurant Permit (RM).

Willow Park formerly operated on the private club system, but sales were expanded to RM permits, which don’t require memberships.

Weatherford restaurants serving alcoholic drinks are currently operating with RM permits, which are too limited to support “bars,” or businesses centered around alcohol consumption specifically, according to Jones.

“Now, I know a lot of times the atmosphere in some places changes, where you have a restaurant and then, as it gets into the later hours, it may have more of a sports bar theme, and people have a tendency to not eat as much,” he said. “But at the end of the day, the type of permit they have is one that requires some food service.”

As of November 2008, there are 40 completely wet counties in Texas, and 32 completely dry counties with the remaining 182 counties, including Parker, falling somewhere in between, according to TABC records.