FRIENDSWOOD — Voters will get a chance in November to decide whether to legalize alcohol in Friendswood’s downtown district, where alcohol has been banned since 1963.
City council members Monday called for a special election Nov. 3 on allowing restaurants to sell mixed beverages and allowing stores to sell only beer and wine. The way the ordinance is worded, liquor stores still would be prohibited in Friendswood’s downtown, an area roughly defined as the FM 518 corridor between FM 528 and FM 2351.
Downtown business owners leading the drive got enough residents to sign a petition asking the city to put the alcohol referendum on the ballot that the city council was forced Monday to call the special election, Mayor David Smith said.
A Friendswood business owner two years ago led a push to legalize alcohol sales, but he failed to get enough signatures to get the item on the ballot. The attempt was the first time anyone officially had challenged Friendswood’s “dry” area since the city banned alcohol sales in April 1963.
Alcohol can be sold in the parts of the city annexed after the 1963 election — the parts of the city in Harris County and those areas at the city’s southern and eastern edges.
The alcohol ban largely is seen as a reflection of the city’s Quaker roots.
However, the ban has stymied growth and discouraged big chain restaurants from opening up shop in downtown, Smith said. Though most of the area within a 1-mile radius of city hall is dry, some restaurants have skirted those rules by opening as “private clubs” that allow members to purchase alcohol. National chain restaurants, however, typically shy away from the hassle of the paperwork required of a “private club,” Smith said.
Allowing voters to decide on lifting the ban gives Friendswood an opportunity to attract more restaurants and upscale businesses like wine bars to the downtown district, he said.
