Ballot measures to allow wine sales in Southlake and Westlake win easy approval
By Josh Shaffer and Mike Lee
Star-Telegram staff writer
Voters in Southlake overwhelmingly approved wine sales in their city Tuesday, capping a three-year campaign that included two trips to the state Legislature.
A similar proposal passed easily in Westlake.
Almost 94 percent of the 3,136 voters favored legalizing wine sales, according to unofficial results. Early voting for the measure broke a record set during the 2000 mayoral election.
"I would predict we'd have the largest landslide victory - due to all your efforts - of any election we ever had," Mayor Rick Stacy told about 75 wine sales supporters who had gathered for a poll-watching party.
Bob Williams, store director of Kroger grocery store in Southlake, said he planned to have wine on the shelves by ear- ly December. Stores can sell beer, and restaurants can sell beer, wine and mixed drinks.
"I've been working on this for three years," Williams said.
Southlake and neighboring Westlake both are split between Tarrant and Denton counties, and previously could not conduct alcohol elections because of a quirk in state law.
State Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Grapevine, introduced a bill in the 1999 Legislature that would have allowed elections in so-called split cities, but it died in committee. Truitt spent the interim working with lobbyists and industry groups, and introduced another bill in May that was tailored strictly to Southlake and Westlake.
"It just didn't seem right. Why should their voting rights be any different than the people in Keller or the people in Colleyville," Truitt said.
Westlake approved its wine measure, 40-5. There are about 250 people in town, about 170 of whom are registered voters.
"I'm not surprised," Mayor Scott Bradley said. "I know that everyone would like to have a Whole Foods store or a Central Market, and you couldn't have either one of those if you didn't allow wine sales."
Some in Westlake consider wine sales to be crucial in attracting a grocery and other stores to the fast-growing corridor along Texas 114.
Bradley has also said he has heard some buzz about people who want to open a wine shop in town, which had been illegal according to state liquor laws.
To get the wine issue on the ballot, Westlake collected 75 signatures, 15 more than necessary. Seven people showed up for early voting at Town Hall.
But there will be no immediate effect from Tuesday's election results because there is no place in town to sell wine for off-premise consumption.
Southlake residents began organizing a petition drive in September, shortly after Truitt's bill took effect.
Eralee and Harry Caldwell organized a group of about 700 volunteers who canvassed neighborhoods, stood outside stores and worked telephones to drum up support. They needed 5,256 signatures to call an election and gathered 6,881.
The Caldwells credited the victory to volunteers, many of whom invested dozens of hours in the campaign.
"We had a great committee," Eralee Caldwell said.
Residents and business owners were concerned that Southlake was losing business to neighboring towns that allow wine sales, and that the ban on wine hurt efforts to attract new stores and other businesses.
Stacy said the move should help the city attract stores such as EatZi's, a high-end specialty grocer that sells wine.
Also, he said, "I believe this has been unfair to all our existing merchants. Furthermore, it's been unfair to all of us who like to drink wine. We've had to go out of our way to buy it."
Williams said allowing wine sales, "makes it more attractive for a retailer who has wine in their basic scheme of things."
He said it was too soon to tell if Southlake stores will begin attracting customers from other cities.
"People already have their pattern of where they go and buy. I don't know if we can break that pattern or if we have to build up from scratch," Williams said.