Lake Weatherford tavern operator reaches agreement with city
The future appears safe for Weatherford’s Tavern on the Lake after city officials decided against changes that some said could have put the bar in financial jeopardy.
The city of Weatherford owns the Lake Weatherford marina where Tavern on the Lake is located. Randy Plyler, a Weatherford real estate agent and businessman, operates the tavern and other marina facilities — including the beach, the boat slip, the bait shop, the mechanic shop and the crappie house — under a lease and concessions agreement with the city.
Recently, Weatherford’s Municipal Utility Board informed Plyler of its intent to retake control of some of those facilities as the city looked to make improvements to the marina and the lakefront. Plyler was told he could continue operating the tavern, but Plyler’s supporters said it would have been difficult to keep it going without the other revenue streams.
However, the utility board decided to only end the agreement with Plyler for the beach operations, leaving everything else unchanged.
Plyler did not respond to a request for comment on the deal he reached with the city, but he and his wife, Sheila, posted a statement to the Tavern on the Lake Facebook page.
“Yesterday, a compromise was reached that allows us to continue operating the marina and Tavern, while the City moves on with their beach project, and for that we are grateful,” the Plylers wrote.
In a separate statement posted to an online petition site, the Plylers’ daughter, Amberly Bryant, declared victory, saying Tavern on the Lake would “survive another day.”
Several residents spoke in support of the Plylers at the Municipal Utility Board meeting Thursday afternoon where the decision was made. Many more friends and tavern regulars crowded into the room to find out how the board would vote with regard to Plyler’s agreement.
Plyler himself addressed the board, saying he and his wife had poured their life savings into turning the marina and tavern into a viable business. Plyler said some had implied he wasn’t willing to work with the city to make improvements to the marina, but he argued that was untrue, and that he’d simply asked questions about the city’s plans.
“Asking questions about the future of your business should not be mistaken for being unwilling to cooperate,” he told the Municipal Utility Board.
In making his case to the board, Plyler said the operations officials wanted to take from him accounted for just over half his total revenue.
The city of Weatherford initially proposed a $1.8 million overhaul of the Lake Weatherford waterfront. That would have included a $1.5 million beach renovation, a $200,000 renovation of the crappie house and a $100,000 upgrade to the boat slips.
City spokesperson Erin Spicer said the plan now is to just renovate the beach. The proposed project calls for restoring the sand and adding a seawall, new restrooms, pavilions, palapas, volleyball courts and a hike-and-bike trail.
“The change is that the City is moving forward with bringing the beach area under City operation so it can be improved and made free and open to the public,” Spicer wrote in a statement to the Star-Telegram.
Any improvements to the crappie house and boat slips would have to be managed by Plyler, Spicer said.
This month, the tavern made a cameo in the third episode of “Dutton Ranch,” a television spinoff of Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone.”