Wills Point Goes Wet; Some Surprised By Vote Margin

For the first time since national prohibition ended in 1933, Van Zandt County has a legally wet town: Wills Point.

Last weekend, voters in Wills Point made history by passing a local option allowing for beer and wine sales for off-premise consumption.

The proposition passed by a 464-276 margin — 188 votes — in a record-setting turnout for a May election in the city.

That margin of about 62 percent surprised many officials around Van Zandt County.

"I was very surprised it passed by that many votes," Grand Saline City Administrator Stephen Ashley said after Tuesday night’s Grand Saline City Council meeting.

"Especially given the local option failures that happened Saturday in Smith County, I thought it would be much closer in Wills Point. It was interesting to see how it went down to defeat in other communities," he added.

Ashley was referring to similar measures that were defeated in the Smith County Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 (the northeastern part of the county) and in the city of Winona.

In the latter case, the vote ended in a tie. State law decrees that a tie counts as a failure for an alcoholic beverage sales proposition. A recount of the ballots was expected to begin late in the week, according to a story published in the Tyler Morning-Telegraph.

However, Wills Point’s decision put it in the clear majority of results in local option elections statewide on May 9. Twenty-eight of 35 alcohol propositions passed, not including three elections from which results could not be obtained by press time.

That is an 80 percent passage rate, keeping in line with what statewide statistics show during the past five years. Some of the propositions that passed were among multiple alcohol sales options in one city election.

Speaking after a Van Zandt County Commissioners’ Court meeting on Tuesday, Precinct 2 Commissioner Virgil Melton Jr. said he also was a bit surprised at the comfortable margin approving the measure.

"I was a little surprised it passed," Melton said. "Municipalities and governments everywhere are looking for more ways to generate funds…and we’re running out of options," he said.

Melton also said he thinks it will not be the only local option election in Van Zandt County in the days to come.

"I think it is just a matter of time before other voters in Van Zandt County, and particularly in Canton, will be asked to go to the polls and decide," he said.

Although Canton is still officially dry, it does have three public restaurants now that serve alcoholic beverages — Savannah Winery and Bistro, the new private club licensed section of Ranchero that opened last week and the Grill Room at Van Zandt Country Club, which recently opened to the general public.

On Monday, Mill Creek Ranch RV and Cottage Resort in Canton was approved by the Canton Planning and Zoning Commission for a private club license. The matter is still to go before the Canton City Council for final approval.

Savannah Winery and Bistro opened in December 2006 under a provision in a 2003 state constitutional amendment that allowed Texas wineries to open regardless of local alcoholic beverage sales status. Such wineries are restricted to selling and serving wines produced in Texas.

The Blue Rooster Winery opened last December in Edgewood under the same provision. Owner Alan Roush said he does not feel his business will be hurt by the presence of wine sales in Wills Point.

"We have had more interest by people wanting to have a glass of wine and appetizers and light salads on their way home from work. I think there is still going to be an interest in the fine wines," he said.

Roush said he was not surprised that the Wills Point proposition passed.

"What I was surprised about was that the vote wasn’t larger on either side, but I certainly was encouraged by the showing of the people that did come out," he said.

He added that he thought the city would benefit from the decision.

"I feel that rather than a decrease in the quality of life in the area, I think it will draw more businesses and services," Roush said. "Having moved out from Garland, that was certainly the case there. When that city went wet, it encouraged retail and the coming of restaurants.

"Activity of that sort doesn’t necessarily create an all-alcohol environment because with an increase in traffic, you have other (new) businesses that would like to take advantage of that traffic," Roush added.

It could create a more thriving retail sector and more price competition locally, he said.

Earlier this week, Van Zandt County Clerk Charlotte Bledsoe said one application to sell beer and wine in Wills Point was already with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and ready to be sent to the city of Wills Point for approval.

Generally, the wait time for application and license approval is about eight weeks, according to Matt Walker with Price Distributing in Ennis.