How TABC Distance Measurements Are Calculated, and Why Applicants Get Them Wrong

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The Alcoholic Beverage Code uses two different measuring methods. For a church or a public hospital, the distance runs from front door to front door along the property lines of the street fronts. For a public or private school, it runs in a straight line from the school’s property line to the business’s property line. Applicants go wrong by using one method for every institution or by measuring a straight line where the statute follows the street.

The two methods in Section 109.33(b)

Section 109.33(b) of the Alcoholic Beverage Code fixes the method wherever a city or county has adopted a distance rule:

Church or public hospital Public or private school
Starting and ending points front door to front door property line to property line
Path along the property lines of the street fronts in a direct line
Intersections crossed in a direct line crossed in a direct line
Do door locations matter? yes no

For a church or hospital, the measurement follows the street frontage from one front door to the other, and where the path meets an intersection it crosses in a straight line rather than following the curb around the corner. For a school, the measurement is a direct line between the two property lines, so the location of either building’s doors is irrelevant.

The fifth-story rule for schools

A business located on or above the fifth story of a multistory building adds a vertical leg to the school measurement. The distance runs in a direct line from the school’s property line to the business’s property line, across intersections in a direct line, and then vertically up the building at the property line to the base of the floor where the business is located. A bar on the tenth floor of a tower can therefore measure farther from a school than the same tower’s ground-floor shop.

Day-care centers, notice, and older locations

  • Day-care and child-care facilities. Where Section 109.331 applies, it borrows the public school provisions of Section 109.33, so the property-line method is the one used for these facilities too.
  • The school notice distance is measured differently. The rule requiring written notice to a school before applying (Section 109.33(c)) measures from a door by which the public may enter the business to the nearest property line of the school, along street lines and directly across intersections. That is neither of the Section 109.33(b) methods, so a location can be outside a school distance rule and still owe notice.
  • Businesses already permitted in 1983. For a dealer that held a license or permit on September 1, 1983, in a place where a distance rule was already in effect, the school distance is measured front door to front door along the street fronts, like a church.

One address, three measurements (hypothetical)

Assume a city has adopted a 300-foot rule for churches and schools, and a proposed bar sits near both. The distances are invented to show the methods:

Protected place Shortcut measurement Statutory measurement Result under a 300-foot rule
Church across the street and around a corner 260 feet, door to door in a straight line 330 feet along the street fronts, crossing the intersection directly outside the rule; the straight line would have wrongly put the bar inside
School down the block 450 feet, walking the sidewalk from door to door 280 feet in a direct line between the two property lines inside the rule; the walking route would have wrongly cleared the bar
Same school, bar on the sixth floor 280 feet at ground level 280 feet plus a vertical leg of 60 feet to the base of the sixth floor, 340 feet outside the rule; leaving out the vertical leg would have wrongly put the bar inside

The same address passes one test and fails another, which is why each protected place is measured by its own method.

Why applicants get it wrong

  • One method for everything. Measuring a school door to door, or a church property line to property line, gives the wrong figure.
  • The crow’s-flight line for a church. A straight line between the two front doors is never longer than the street-front path the statute requires, so this error tends to overstate the problem for the business.
  • The street path for a school. Walking the street route to a school usually gives a longer distance than the direct property-line measurement, so this error tends to understate the problem, which is the more dangerous mistake.
  • Using the building, not the lot. School distances start at property lines, and a school’s property line can sit well beyond its buildings, including playing fields and parking.
  • Ignoring the floor. For a business on the fifth story or above, leaving out the vertical leg understates the school distance.

Getting a number that holds up

Identify each protected place near the address and its type, then measure each one by its own method. Where a result is close to the limit, a drawing prepared by a licensed surveyor that shows the measured path and the property lines is a practical way to document the figure for the city, the county, and TABC.

This article is general information about Texas alcoholic beverage law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes and TABC rules change; confirm current requirements with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the relevant city or county, or a licensed Texas attorney before acting.

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