Lubbock council motion to vary 300-foot separation for Pub 55 at 3135 Fourth Street fails after no second

The Lubbock City Council on June 10 did not approve a request to vary the required 300-foot separation for a license for a proposed Pub 55 at 3135 Fourth Street after a motion to approve received no second.

Kristen Sager, city staff member, told council the request was for mixed beverage and late-hours mixed beverage permits and asked the council to consider varying the separation requirement for the property where Pub 55 would locate. Sager said several nearby properties previously received distance variances: in 2019 Woody's Brick Oven Pizza and Grill received a variance for a wine-and-beer retail dealer permit; in 2022 Viso's African Bar and Restaurant received a variance for mixed beverage, wine-and-beer retail permits and an on-premise late-hours permit; and in 2022 Frost Brewhouse received approval for a wine-and-beer retailers and brewpub license.

Sager said the property is within 300 feet of “Missus O's daycare at Tech” and that the daycare had been notified. "We have not received any response from missus Oz. They were notified of this request," she said. When asked whether the daycare opened before the prior variances, Sager said, "I do not, but it was prior to 2019 because all 3 of these businesses required the separation variance." An applicant representative told the council, "We typed a letter to missus Oz," and said they had not yet received a response.

Council members asked about the legal standard for granting the separation variance. Councilman Glasheen asked, "Under the ordinance, what is the standard, for when a variance—the elements that need to be met to approve a variance?" Mr. Wade responded with a legal distinction: "This is a little bit different than a variance that you would get from zoning. Right. A variance from zoning has specific criteria ... it can't be based on a financial hardship. It has to be something unique about the property itself ... This is a variance from a distance requirement. Once you're within that distance of 300 feet, and if you want to take the variance from the distance requirement, that's when you have to. So the same term variance, different criteria for those 2 types of things." (Statements as recorded in meeting transcript.)

After discussion, Councilman Harris moved to approve the item. The motion did not receive a second and therefore failed for lack of a second; no formal vote tally on the variance was recorded. The council took no further action on the item and moved on.

The matter remains unresolved on the record: staff documented the application, prior variances at nearby addresses, the 300-foot separation criterion, notification to the daycare and no written opposition received as of the meeting. The council did not set follow-up direction or schedule further consideration before adjourning.