Last Tuesday, Fort Worth City Council signed off on a new zoning ordinance designed to break up clusters of liquor package stores, retail smoke shops and credit-access businesses across the city. The move lays out fresh distance rules and buffer zones that will reshape where those businesses can open in neighborhoods from here on out.
What the ordinance does
The amendment creates a formal land-use category for "credit access businesses," tightens the definition of retail smoke shops and generally requires about 1,000 feet of separation between similar uses. It also increases buffers from so-called sensitive uses to 500 feet. As detailed in a City of Fort Worth staff report, liquor or package stores are removed as a permitted use in certain neighborhood commercial districts, and the smoke shop threshold is reset to cover outlets that pull roughly half their sales from tobacco-related products.
Council reaction and vote
Supporters on the council said the tweaks are meant to protect neighborhood vitality and keep commercial strips from being dominated by the same kinds of low-investment retail. Council member Mia Hall called the changes "reasonable and fair," and the council approved the ordinance after taking public comment at the Jan. 27 meeting. Reporting by Fort Worth Report notes the adoption followed staff presentations and a review by the zoning commission.
Business owners push back
Property owners and small-shop operators countered that the new rules could squeeze long-standing businesses in lower-income neighborhoods. "It would stigmatize low-income areas," property owner Danielle Tucker told the council. Austin Rankin, speaking for the Texas Package Stores Association and representing Spec's in the DFW area, called the measure "anticompetitive and antibusiness," according to Fort Worth Report. Managers of neighborhood package stores, including the operator of Jack Star Liquor on E. Belknap, said their shops have anchored blocks for decades and warned of unintended consequences.
Why the city made the change
City planners told council members the amendment traces back to an informal 2024 review that flagged proliferating uses and potential negative secondary effects along certain commercial corridors. According to the staff packet, written notice about the possibility of becoming a non-conforming use was mailed to affected license holders on Nov. 26, 2025, and the zoning commission had actually recommended denial before the council adopted the ordinance; those details appear in the city's staff report.
Legal implications
Under the new rules, some existing shops could become non-conforming uses. That means they can generally keep operating, but they could face limits on rebuilding or expanding if they are damaged or significantly remodeled. City staff told the council that development services personnel can conduct on-site checks of certificates of occupancy and work with owners on pursuing a zoning change or revising a certificate, according to Community Impact. The packet and published notices also show staff dropped a proposed pawn-shop spacing change after concluding that state law already restricts new pawn-shop licenses in larger counties, per a city notice published in McClatchy.
Next steps
Business owners, developers and neighborhood groups will now be watching how the city enforces the new spacing rules, and whether trade organizations seek variances or mount legal challenges. For maps, the full staff packet and permit guidance, residents and operators can turn to the City of Fort Worth zoning pages and local coverage from outlets such as FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth.
