Garland council tables liquor-distance variance for Everest Gas and Food Mart near South Garland High School

Garland City Council on Tuesday moved to table a request from Everest Gas and Food Mart Inc. for a variance to the Garland Development Code that would allow the store to keep selling beer and wine despite being well inside the 300-foot minimum separation from South Garland High School.

The council voted unanimously to postpone consideration until the June 3 meeting to allow staff to gather information requested by council members, including whether other nearby businesses have variances, whether the school or police have filed complaints, and clearer mapping of distances. The applicant and the property owner told the council the store’s Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission permit expires July 30 and said losing beer-and-wine sales would threaten the business’s viability.

The variance request arose after staff re-measured property-line-to-property-line distance and found the subject parcel and the school lie roughly 47 feet apart, far less than the 300-foot requirement in the Garland Development Code. Staff said previous certificates of occupancy for the site—issued in 2004, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2017—had indicated the site was outside the 300-foot buffer; council members and staff said they do not have records explaining why those earlier approvals were issued despite the proximity.

Council members pressed staff for more context. Council Member Bass and others asked whether the city or Garland Independent School District (GISD) had received police reports of minors attempting to purchase alcohol at the location, and whether notification letters had gone to the school. Staff said only one response had been received to the mailed notices—the property owner, who supported the request—and that notices typically are sent to GISD’s facilities department rather than to school administrators. Staff said they had not researched police incident reports or how many other businesses within the 300-foot zone sell beer and wine or hold variances.

Several council members said those facts are relevant to the public-safety and community-interest considerations the Garland Development Code uses to assess variance requests. Mayor Pro Tem Tim Moore and other members said they wanted the record clarified about other businesses in the area that already sell alcohol and whether those businesses hold variances.

The applicant, who said he purchased the business while it already sold beer and wine, told the council he had a survey showing the property-line measurement is under 50 feet and that he follows TABC rules and trains staff to check IDs. Property owner Nelish Golakia said she had required tenants to comply with TABC rules since she acquired the building in 2011 and that she would lose rent if beer-and-wine sales stopped.

Multiple residents urged postponement and asked the council to seek more information; one nearby resident explicitly requested the council not approve the variance as presented. City Attorney Rex (first name not specified in the record) and city staff agreed to gather additional documents and history and to identify any prior variances granted in the area.

The motion to table the item until the June 3 meeting was made by Council Member Williams and seconded by Council Member Bass; the motion passed unanimously.