Frisco To Vote On Confusing, Controversial Alcohol Proposition Saturday
Follow CBSDFW.COM: Facebook | Twitter
FRISCO (CBS11) - There is perhaps as much confusion as controversy surrounding an alcohol proposition Frisco residents will be voting on Saturday.
Here's how proposition will appear on the ballot:
"The legal sale of all alcoholic beverages including mixed beverages."
( ) For
( ) Against
"It is confusing ballot language," said Frisco Mayor Maher Maso, who along with every member of the city council opposes the proposition.
Maso said what's really at stake is local control.
Right now any restaurant in Frisco with alcohol sales greater than 50 percent must receive a special use permit, or SUP, from the city.
The permit process gives the city council control to regulate beyond the state rules where it will allow bars.
With this proposal the alcohol sales limit would increase to 75 percent without city council regulation.
"So if you're a resident and you come to me and say, 'I don't want this in my neighborhood or I don't want this in this location,' we would have no control," said Maso.
The proposal will also allow package liquor stores in Frisco.
The group petitioning to make Frisco completely wet, Frisco Committee for Economic Growth, estimates that Frisco is losing out on nearly $1 million in sales tax revenue from package liquor stores and bars.
Jeannean Hefner, a Frisco resident and business owner, said she'll vote in favor of the proposition because she doesn't want tax dollars leaving her city.
She said, "You are going to force me to leave my area and spend my tax dollars somewhere else that the city is not even benefiting from."
Much of the push for the proposition came about because Wild Pitch Sports Bar and Grill violated its state permit by exceeding its 50% limit for alcohol sales.
Many believe the city would be reluctant to grant Wild Pitch a specific use permit to exceed the 50 percent in alcohol sales because of complaints about the restaurant from residents.
"This is not about alcohol," said Maso. "This is about one facility not meeting the state mandated and this is their way to get around it."
The following is a question and answer sheet about the Frisco liquor vote:
(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
