The Collin County Observer

Alcohol all the buzz at Frisco council meeting

By Jan Bellamy, Staff Writer / Frisco Enterprise
Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Tuesday night’s [Frisco] city council meeting offered it all: alcohol, morality play, property rights, and pleas to be heard. It wasn’t a Texas shoot-out, but a gun was mentioned.

The hot topic: Did city council want to hold a public hearing on establishing a process for future alcohol-selling establishments to request waivers or variances from required distances from schools, churches, etc. Distances now vary from 350 to 800 feet, depending on specifics. Texas law allows a city to establish a variance process for future development.

“There are two considerations before you today. No alcohol sales near schools, which is, of course, a laudable goal,” Will Russell told council during the public hearing on whether to have a public hearing.

“But also property owners having a forum for hearing a variance or an exception to an ordinance,” Russell continued. “I think it’s important we have a forum for property owners to come to be heard.”

Ultimately, the council members voted 4-2 for staff to proceed with a public hearing to gauge interest and need for establishing a waiver-request process.

But not before the potential for a variance for alcohol sellers was compared to a five-day waiting period for a gun.

“You load the gun and put it in the drawer, and take it out after the five days,” Councilmember Bob Allen said.

“Now, that’s a cute political trick,” said Councilmember Scott Johnson, “comparing this to a loaded gun.”

Council members Allen and David Prince opposed using the public hearing process. Voting in favor were council members Bart Crowder, Jeff Cheney, Pat Fallon and Scott Johnson.

“The question is, while acknowledging it’s a good thing to have separation as a general rule, does common sense ever say, ‘well, in this case, all parties agree that it may be appropriate to consider a variance’,” Crowder said. “Right now, we don’t have the ability to consider a variance.”

Councilmember Prince said it’s wrong to presume restaurants won’t develop if they can’t or don’t want to sell alcohol.

“I’m not in favor of holding a public hearing on the situation,” Prince said. “I don’t think there should ever be a reason to compromise the distance between alcohol, children and schools.”

The public hearing will be included on a future council meeting agenda. More on the heated exchanges and Mayor Maher Maso's call for decorum can be seen on video at www.friscotexas.com/meetings.

read the rest of the article at The Frisco Enterprise....