HOUSTON – About 10,000 residents in part of the Houston Heights area voted Tuesday on whether they want stores to be able to sell beer and wine.
The new proposal passed with a 63 percent to 36 percent vote.
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For the past 104 years, stores located in the “dry zone” area of the Heights have not been able to sell alcohol.
The ban was part of the prohibition movement.
The “dry zone” extends approximately from West 27th Street in the south to White Oak Bayou in the north; and from Lawrence and Dian in the east to Oxford in the west.
“It’s a pretty archaic law and it has restricted economic development in the Heights for over 100 years,” said Steve Reilley of the Houston Heights Beverage Coalition.
HEB is hoping to build a new store at the site, amid what has become a sort of grocery-store desert.
“I actually drive all the way out to Buffalo Speedway to go shop right now,” said resident Marie Wise. “There just simply aren't enough good quality and clean places in the neighborhood.”
The measure will allow stores such as HEB to sell beer and wine, but customers will not be able to drink on the premises.
HEB says that if the measure passes, it will open a store in the area in January 2018.