Tyler , TX (KETK) — Tyler City Council decided not to vote Wednesday on the requests from three different retail stores to sell alcohol.
City officials say they needed more time to address some of the issues regarding the requests before making a decision.
The stores locations are within 300 feet of a school or church, which by law, they cannot sell, unless the city grants them a special use permit.
But city council members were not comfortable with making this decision just yet.
The council wants to go back and look at the original ordinances and make some changes before giving these stores an answer.
"I would like to see the city do it in a manner that makes it equitable to everybody by ordinance or right versus us or future council members picking who is going to get these," said Councilman Mark Whatley.
Attorneys of these stores were ready to give the council reasons on why selling alcohol at these locations would be economically beneficial to the city.
Both All Saints Episcopal School and Jones-Boshears next to these retail stores did not oppose this possible change.
But the council is concerned with opening the city up to discrimination and possible lawsuits.
City Planner Heather Nick says city officials will reconsider the original codes and possibly amend the ordinances.
"It really did seem like we needed this type of discussion and to look at our code and see what we could do to update it to make these decisions a little less uncertain," said Nick.