**OFFICE OF**  **THE A** **’ ITORNEY**  **GENERAL OF**  **TEXAS AUSTIN**  **GROVER**

**SELLERS AITOINEV** 

**OlNEIIl.** Bon. Bert Ford, Administrator **Texas** Liquor **Control** Board Austin, Texas
Bear )Er,

Ford:

**Ke** contained in Opinion Ho. O-7528

Re: Proper way to measure the dishave given csreful consideratio the followingletter:
'The quest%on arises of **fIlS8SlWi3&** the distan of th6 EducationalBuii Church in Wichita Fall theBrownBuildi Wichita Fall& '4' mitt&operate **8**

along the property om frontdoorto

e **relative** locations of these two mariner....

which the City Clerk nts should be made is enclosed nsideration. -

should be made as follows: Starting at the west front door of the Education Building, (Door *Br, as

_ shown on the &at) lneasure 34 feet North to the corner of the Edkational Building; thence East 44.2 feet to an alley; thence North 153.1 feet to 9thEon, Bert Ford - Page 2

Street; thence across alley 48.7 feet to the front door of the proposed liquor store.as shown on the plat of 28 IA' 8t 909 9th Street),mald.ng a distance

'the ap$ica.tAs,namely L. L:Blackwe~ and )rl. S. Bailey,who reek the liquorpermit contend that the measur8m8ntsshouldbe made as follows: Startin at the.west front door.of the EducationalBuilding 7door 'B' as shown on the plat),measure in a straight line west to the line of Travis Strelt; thenceNorth to 9th Street; thenceEast along the south line of 9th Street to the front door of the proposedliquor etore (door 'kc 86 shown by the pla;) at 909 9-h Street. 5::: dista~2.8

would be 8 great deal, more then 300

. trThe Board desiresyour opinion on the pro r measurementsof the distancefrom the west fron E" door of the EducationBuilding to the front door of the proyei. uor store.

& ich of the roposedroutes 5.s the correct r otherword8, the Board wants

e distancebetween the two front

From your queetlonwe presume the City Council of f;icNta Falls ha8 passed an ordinance‘reguJ.atin& the locationwhere intoxiC&.ting liquors i?x?'

be sold under the protisicnsof Article 6625a of the PenalCode, 4his krticle authorizesthe city to "prohi'cit the sale of alcoholicbeveragesby any dealer,where the place of business of any such dealer is within 300 feet of any church, public school or public hospital, the measureamntsto be along the property lines of the street fronts and from front door to front door and"‘in direct lines across intersectioos where they occur."
The plat which 8ccompaniesfour requestreveals that the EducationalBuilding of the First Chr stian Church Is located on the alley running from 9th Street to 10th Street; that the proposed liquor store is on 9th Street; that the distancefrom the pro store to the **side** of the alley on which the Education ar sed liquor Church building is located is 48.7 feet; that from 9th Street to the corner of the EducationalEjuilding on the alley is 159.1 feet; that-from the said corner of the EducationalBuilding it is 44.2 feet to the 1:. :I'. corner of said building; thence 34 feet south to the front door of the EducationalBdlding marked "3" on the plat. This makes a totaldist,ar,ce of 256 feet from the proposedliquor storemarked "4" to the

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Hon. Bert Ford - Page 3

front door of the BdxcationalBuildingnarked "Be.

hss A8 revealedby the above-quotedstatute, the Le&.slature
If t Erovlded that the 8ale of alcoholicbeveragesnay bc prohibited e church. place of business of say such dealer is within 300 feet of 8 It then &ives the yardstickfor ~3e8s1~ring said distance. Admittedly, the*prOpOaedliquor store is tith5.n 207.8"feet of the church in e&ion, &ere said church fronts or faces on the

. measurerentsalone; the propertyline of 9th Street,
alotrectly across th8 alley, and then followingthe property Line the alley dam to b:-12 ckurch. Tt~csktate theri pl-oi*ides

l&t the ineasurementa

crmt be fro% the property line of the street Sront to the front door of the church 2nd the front ch,or of the yqmr;od l&:&or StOl:8. ::8 are 0,'the opiufon that the church faces ILpon or fronts UFI the zlley, and if this constructionis true, then under the law the rdeaaurezent would be from the corner of the church building on the alley to the door or entrance into the Educational~Building of said chuz%h.

'Inthe case of \i&ters is. CoLlFw 70 ktl. 384 a Eew Jersey c8se, the court was reqilired to pas8 upon t&8 question oh %%at was the front line of a comer lot which faced 50 feet on Atlantic (them&n) street and ren b8ck ll3 feet on Montpelier to an alley. The Court used the foU.ckJing kmguage:

WOw 8 lot fronts on a street when it lies free to face Nith, or oppositeto, a street. The fro& property line of any street is a boundaryv:hich dclitits private property lying alow that street fro3 the street itself. Both at Atlantic avenu8 and I+iontlier avenue this conditionof affairs elEi8t8.' There s therefore r on both streets a front property line Of defendazt's lot. *The front Of the lot,' remarked judge Driller in hi8 opinion delivered5n.the.c88e of City of Des Xoines v. Dorr, 33.

1~8, &, *is very well known to be that part of the semewhich faces a street or streets. It IQayfront on one street only1 or it cay front on tW0. :..hat is the front of a,--lot, 1.5 determinableby its facix upon a public street or streets.' Xn'this cate the lot faces upon two public streets, and it was held in the last-mentionedc&se that a corner lot fronted On b&h of the streetsv;?iicL famed the angle."

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Hon. Bert Ford - PRO 4

east 44;2 feet 

## to the alley on which said building; fronts or faces.
The case of Stubbs v. Texas Liquor Control Board, 166 S.K. (2) 178 (errorref.) the &urt discussedat lexth the h-ay the meesuremcnt shouldbe JX& in deter&&m;; the distame from the church door to the door of the liquor stora.

The court reeffizzedthe doctrine that has been announced a nmber of tiles that any door used for eatranceto the church Is wi.t,hSn

the cmteqlation of t3e kti a fro& door. In saiclc cxx2 the ascdS.e?tStubbs took the '~ositiorr tkt th~..xe&s~re;icat i:Jst be cloiy; t&k street lines to t!le &eet intersection,then aross the street intersoc%iondo%'! oPnx(te the z.ir.

entr;,tce

to the &U?uIck,, md thence i.a

a direct line u? to said door. Cn the other hand, the Texas Liquor Control BOWG took the positionchat there xere three or four othernays, each less tw 

### 333 feet, & which to xeaswrc the distance to tlro

Other doors,one enteri% the Sunday Schoolroox and one enter- the pastorvs study,uhich was in the church. It took the positionthat the most directway oze could Co from the liquor store to the nearest of said doors could be used. The Appellate

_ Court held that each and all of the methods wested by the Texas Liquor Control Eoard were correct,and the court then used the followislme:
n&4 Article 666-2 of the Liquor ControlAct provides: *This entire i.ct shallbe deemed an exercise of tse police porter of the State for the.protectiorr of the welfare,health,peace; tenpersnce,and safety of the pea lo of the State, and all its Provisionashall be flberallyconstruedfor the accomplis?~-xx%

of that purpose';and the gener.zl rule of neaswexent relatiq to tez:rito withinwhich a..saloon ma1 aerate is stated in a note ? n 96 A.L.R. p. ‘778, as fo lows: 'The propositiocappears to be establishedas a rule of law thr.t, exc+pt as map be otherwisespecificallyprovided, the distancecontexzplated by a statute 0~ re&c.tiax prohibitin&the GrantinSof a licensefor the sale of intozkxM..3Sliquors,or trafficUerein, within a certaindistance of a named institutionor place (e. 5., c'.xrc‘o

-;i-*), :cust

be measxred in a straightlice

. rc;;r;Cr t!;x2 ii-; 53:x othern.anner, such as by the usualiy ';rz-;cl;C

rs::<e o;t the streetkir,es.fHon. 

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Bert Ford - Page 5

mensureaent under the rule prescribedfor that purpose. The meaning generallygiven by courts to the phrase ‘froar front door to front door’ i.6 that, any door leading into the church or saloonis a front door; in other u10r&s, aeve+ it is held that a church or saloonnay have

front dOOr and **may** face upon two or more atmets; and we are of o $zI~; ;fhthe Einion that 1s the sense in +ich the proiquor Control **Act** shouldbe ootmtrued.

., pp. 372-373, the doctrine is stated that I* * * in'the case of a corner church,either of two - doors lezdiagEron the respectiveIntersectingstrecta, i!?tiO 2 to>:er

or vestilmle 3-on &ich one door leads to the auditorium,must be regarded as the front entrance b-ithin

the nz.ming of a statuteprohibitingsaloons Fithin c riven distame fron the front entranceof a church, athou& one door day be used nors than the other, and may be on the street or. which the church lot technically faces. * * * 137. In applying the rohibition against salesnear churches,great llber ai ity 1s ..exercised ad the rule of constructionusuallyadopted is said co favor the religious iustbtutionsand not the traffickersin liquors, to the end that the protection be extended to all the multifariousdenominationsand societies -irrespective of their particulartenet8 or creed, anh no matter with what ceremonyor **lack of**  **it** their faith may be evinced. Anp structureused prinalpally **for** religiousworship and Blbla study ia..~naludetl although sox~e

of its r$o%s a&y be used by socie$#es incidentrkl to the church, f.vn

In the case of Halluxu v. Texas LiquorControl Board, 166 S.‘i’. the court held that the prop? r w&y to **measure the**  distance nhen 175, crossing the intersection0f two streetswas to go dl,agonally &cross rather than follow the direct route from one street to another, and then directly across from that street to the opposite street. In other words, the court held that reCardl.ess of the traffic lam, the method of *masuringwae to take the storteatroute possible from the corner of o:?estreet zoing to the corner diagonallyacross said street.

The statute in qdestior, does r.ot

callfor the church door to be 3KJ feet from the door‘ of the saloon aloan property lines, but I-n its xe;surezentsays t?zt in E:circ fron the liquor store to the ckurch tudlcal~, the >ropcrty ?&I;, c< of the street frontsnuet 'befoil-cxed;

%?:fSl th ci?XThbuFldinz, or the liccor storebnildiq is reskcd, t&l.

. 

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iion. Bert Ford - Page 6

the law contemplatesthat from the nearest point on the street front where the buildingsare located,the m%asure~e~tshall be from there in the aost direct line to the door entering the church. In the case at bar it a wars that the door uarked "Brr is the main entrsnce*into the Sunday chool or EducationalBtiloing

!I and as before stated measuring from Boor "B" to the nearest on the church building and then going WY Int where the alley f&nts th the, pro,perty

lines to a point directly in front of the.door to the propcsed ?-i&or store and' then to the door of s4.d

wzici pl;cc storo,L the of mm-se, s&$2,3 -tzs tg:y d.lstru;ce

:m~lc! be 236 feet which, the ;,.~0~,:,5'!;2C6..5

zone.

**. Geo.**  **Ii. Barcus**  **Assistant**