Weeks after Buda City Council reversed course and denied her rezoning request to sell liquor, prospective deli owner Debbie Mylios is contemplating her next course of action.
Mylios—of Free Spirit Hermanas LLC, the ownership group hoping to open a specialty grocery store at 318 North Main Street in downtown Buda—had the rezoning ordinance initially approved on June 17, as the council voted 4-3 in favor of the ordinance. But on July 1 the council voted 4-3 against the ordinance.
Councilman Bobby Lane voted in favor of the ordinance for the first reading but changed his mind largely due to feedback from his constituents, he said.
"The citizens who spoke with me said we have enough (liquor vendors) downtown now," Lane said. "I really wanted to listen to the people and act according to what the citizens were telling me."
Lane said he supports the business concept as a specialty grocery store that sells beer and wine. He said, however, that liquor sales at the location would run in conflict with the family atmosphere city leaders are trying to promote in downtown Buda.
In November 2012, Buda voters passed a proposition that opened the door to bars and liquor stores, but some council members feel the decision has put downtown Buda at odds with the vision for it as a place for family-friendly activity.
Cleveland's and Tavern on Main, restaurants and bars on Main Street, serve liquor by the drink. JN Liquor, which will sell bottled liquor, is set to open further up the street outside of Old Town Buda.
Councilman George Haehn said he feared Main Street would become a "mini Sixth Street" as the council mulled the initial reading.
"I was afraid this would happen in 2012 when we opened the floodgates to liquor stores," Haehn said at the June 17 meeting. "I was assured it wouldn't happen because we would have to change the zoning to get liquor stores. And now here we are debating this."
Mylios has yet to decide what her next step will be after she was denied the ability to sell liquor at the store she has labeled a "mini Spec's."
"It has kind of been at a pause for a bit," she said. "It was a little bit of a shocker that it was overturned. We have been regrouping the last few weeks, deciding if we want to look forward in a new location or apply again in a year."
But Mylios said she is not inclined to move her possible business out of the historic district.
"Old Town Buda would still be my first choice," she said. "I like that atmosphere and feel there is a need for it."