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 selling alcoholic beverages is not a restaurant under the provisions of the GDC (whether operating as a general restaurant or a drive-through restaurant) unless the establishment holds a valid alcoholic 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 that:
(A) 
Operates its own permanent food service facility with commercial cooking equipment on its premises; and
(B) 
Prepares and offers to sell multiple entrees for consumption on or off the premises.
(Ordinance 6773 adopted 5/19/15; Ordinance 7599 adopted 7/8/2025)
(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)