Purpose. The purpose of this Article 5, Division 3 is to provide for the fullest extent of regulation of alcoholic beverages allowed to the City under the Texas Constitution and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed or construed as a waiver or estoppel of any rights that the voters, through the City, may possess as to the regulation of alcoholic beverages. The GDC does not include zoning for “bars,” “nightclubs,” “taverns,” or similar establishments. Section 32.03(f) [32.03(g)] of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code requires a private club to provide “regular food service adequate to its members and their guests.” The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code further requires that holders of food and beverage certificates have food service as the primary business being operated on the premises or the establishment.
(Ordinance 6773 adopted 5/19/15)
An establishment is not a restaurant under the provisions of the GDC (whether operating as a general restaurant or a drive-through restaurant) unless the establishment derives at least sixty-five percent of its gross revenues from the sale or service of food or holds a valid food and beverage certificate issued by the Alcoholic Beverage Commission. For the purposes of this GDC Article 5, Division 3, a general restaurant is an eating establishment:
(A)
That
maintains and uses, on each day on which the establishment is open
for business, food service facilities for the preparation and service
of multiple entrees;
(B)
At which
customers are primarily served by waitpersons at tables; and
(C)
That,
if located in a freestanding building, has no less than three thousand
square feet of gross floor area.
(Ordinance 6773 adopted 5/19/15)
(A)
Location.
An establishment that sells or serves alcoholic beverages may
not be located nearer than:
(1)
Three
hundred feet of a church, public school, or public hospital;
(2)
One
thousand feet from a public school if the City Council receives a
request from the board of trustees of a school district under Section
38.007 of the Texas Education Code; or
(3)
One
thousand feet from a private school if the City Council receives a
request from the governing body of the private school.
(B)
Measurement.
The measurement of the distance between the establishment where
alcoholic beverages are sold and the church or public hospital shall
be along the property lines of the street fronts and from front door
to front door, and in direct line across intersections. The measurement
of the distance between the establishment where alcoholic beverages
are sold and the public school or private school shall be:
(1)
In
a direct line from the property line of the public school to the property
line of the place of business, and in a direct line across intersections;
or
(2)
If
the permit or license holder is located on or above the fifth story
of a multi-story building, in a direct line from the property line
of the public or private school to the property line of the place
of business, in a direct line across intersections, and vertically
up the building at the property line to the base of the floor on which
the permit or license holder is located.
(3)
For
establishments located on the same property or within the same retail
or commercial complex as a church, public school, private school,
or public hospital, from the midpoint of the establishment’s
primary entrance to the midpoint of the church, public school, private
school, or public hospital’s primary entrance. If the establishment
is located on or above the fifth story of a multistory building, the
measurement shall include the distance vertically up the building
to the floor level of the lowest floor upon which any portion of the
establishment, church, public school, private school, or public hospital
is in operation.
(C)
The City
Council may grant a variance to the distance regulations provided
by this Section if the City Council determines that enforcement of
those regulations in a particular instance is not in the best interest
of the public, constitutes waste or inefficient use of land or other
resources, creates an undue hardship on an applicant for a license
or permit, does not serve its intended purpose, is not effective or
necessary, or for any other reason the City Council, after consideration
of the health, safety, and welfare of the public and the equities
of the situation, determines is in the best interest of the community.
(D)
Subsections 2.55(A)(2) and 2.55(A)(3) above do not apply to the holder of:
(1)
A
retail on-premises consumption permit or license if less than fifty
percent of the gross receipts for the premises is from the sale or
service of alcoholic beverages;
(2)
A
retail off-premises consumption permit or license if less than fifty
percent of the gross receipts for the premises, excluding the sale
of items subject to the motor fuels tax, is from the sale or service
of alcoholic beverages; or
(3)
A
wholesaler distributor’s, brewer’s, distiller’s
and rectifier’s, winery, wine bottler’s or manufacturer’s
permit or license, or any other license or permit held by a wholesaler
or manufacturer as those words are ordinarily used and understood
in Chapter 102, TEX. ALCOHOLIC BEV. CODE.
(Ordinance 6773 adopted 5/19/15; Ordinance 7107, sec. 28, adopted 12/3/19)
Restaurant. Pursuant to Sec. 11.38 and
Sec. 61.36 of the Tex. Alc. Bev. Code, a fee is levied in the amount
of one-half the state fee for each permit or license issued by the
Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission for a premises located within
the City unless otherwise excepted or exempted by law.
(Ordinance 6773 adopted 5/19/15)
