by WES FERGUSON
Should Buda loosen up and let the drinks flow?
In the “damp” city where alcohol sales are limited, restaurants can serve beer, wine and spirits, but only if the booze accounts for less than half of their revenue. With the tight rules, only a handful of restaurants bother to sell alcoholic beverages.
But a draft version of Buda’s new comprehensive plan calls for the sale of mixed drinks in certain areas of the city, ranging from major roadways, in and near downtown, and along the Interstate 35 corridor.
During a City Council meeting Tuesday, members debated the merits of relaxing alcohol regulations. It proved to be one of the more contentious aspects of the comprehensive plan.
“To come from being damp to becoming wet – which means you could have an icehouse or a karaoke bar that sold drinks and wings – it would have to go before voters to consider,” Buda Mayor Sarah Mangham said after the meeting. “For me, personally, as long as it does not back up to current residential areas, it should be allowed.”
Some council members, such as Sandra Tenorio and Cathy Chilcote, questioned whether bars and nightclubs belonged downtown.
“In my mind, that has to be part of a restaurant if it’s going to be downtown,” Tenorio said. “If you really want to have a sports bar or pool hall, it would need to be in a different area.”
The debate was part of a much broader discussion about the proposed comprehensive plan. The council members also talked about the need – and difficulty – in revitalizing the historic downtown while balancing the desires of residents who live there.
“Overall, it’s a place that is surviving, but maybe it’s not thriving,” said Jim Carrillo, a consultant who is working with the city to develop the plan.
He recommended using incentives to diversify businesses, restaurants and entertainment choices; establishing parking policies to promote walking; and enhancing parks, plazas and other gathering places, among several other suggestions.
Other recommendations were to target the area’s vacant lots for “infill” development and to promote redevelopment of aging buildings.
“The reality is there are vacant buildings,” Carrillo said. “There are deteriorating buildings.”
Councilman Todd Ruge noted that absentee landlords had little incentive to renovate structures that are already generating profits.
“Until we do something about absentee landlords, it’s really difficult because you have businesses that have been in there many years and they don’t own the building,” he said. “Owners of the building don’t want to do improvements because they’re collecting rent. Until we do something about that or have turnover, we can talk all we want.”
What’s more, other council members noted, some tenants prefer the cheap rents that come with well-worn buildings.
Councilman Ron Fletcher called for more specific standards for ensuring that new construction in historic areas compliments those areas’ existing heritage.
“We really don’t have any objective standards for the Historic Commission to use,” he said. “Right now it’s so subjective that developers don’t know what to expect. People who live next door don’t know what to expect. Members of the commission don’t know what they’re supposed to use to make that decision.”
