Washington Avenue in Houston

Houston’s gas station rules go to the Planning Commission Thursday

ByDana Kowalczyk

Washington Avenue in Houston. Photo: Safety Cap, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Houston’s first citywide rules on where new gas stations can go are headed to the Planning Commission on Thursday, 10 days after the demolition of the Kirby Mansion turned a slow-moving policy fight into a public one.

The proposed Retail Fuel Station Ordinance would add a new Division 9 to Chapter 42 of the city code, the chapter that governs development in a city with no traditional zoning. It would not touch existing stations. It would apply only to new applications, and it would screen sites based on the road they sit on and how residential the surrounding blocks are.

How the two-step test works

According to the city’s presentation to the council’s Economic Development Committee on Oct. 21:

  • A site on a major thoroughfare wider than 80 feet qualifies automatically.
  • If the road is 80 feet or narrower, the city measures how much of the surrounding area is residential. Less than half residential, the site qualifies. Half or more, it doesn’t.
  • An applicant whose site fails can ask for a variance.

The city built the proposal from its own permit records. Houston received 188 fuel station applications in its Harris County portion over the past four years. Of those, 178, or 95%, were on major thoroughfares. But 50 were on roads 80 feet wide or less, and 98 had homes within 50 to 100 feet of the site. Those 50 are the kind of projects that would get the closer look under the new rules.

The presentation walked through two real sites. At 1909 Washington Ave., where Sixth Ward residents are fighting a station being built on more than 15,000 square feet next to their homes, the surrounding area is 80% residential within 50 feet and 57% within 100 feet. At 5204 Live Oak St., near Southmore Boulevard in Riverside Terrace, it is 100% residential at both distances. Neither would qualify without a variance.

Where the push came from

The proposal started in Riverside Terrace, where neighbors fought a gas station and convenience store planned near their homes earlier this year, Space City Daily reported, citing FOX 26. State Rep. Jolanda Jones and Council Member Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, who both live in the neighborhood, praised the city for moving on it.

Then on Nov. 2 the Kirby Mansion came down. The Smith Street mansion, long associated with lumber and oil businessman John Henry Kirby, was demolished after its owners received a city permit, the Houston Business Journal reported, and the site appears headed for a gas station.

The demolition put a spotlight on a broader pattern of convenience-store fuel stations landing on prime inner-loop land, the Business Journal reported in a follow-up published by KHOU on Tuesday. A separate gas station proposal on the former Park Place Methodist Church property was withdrawn after residents objected, and the former Cal-Tex Juice site at 402 Yale St. is under contract, according to the report.

How other Texas cities do it

Houston is the outlier in Texas because it doesn’t zone. Dallas allows gas stations only in districts where the use is specifically permitted. San Antonio requires buffers from homes and other sensitive uses, 100 feet for tanks under 50,000 gallons and 200 feet for larger ones. Austin sets site standards that include screening, a 16-dispenser cap and limits on queue lanes. El Paso applies its standard zoning rules, according to the city’s comparison.

State agencies would still play their usual roles. The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation reviews dispensers and accessibility, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality registers underground storage tanks. The new ordinance would add a city location check up front.

The schedule

  • Thursday, Nov. 12: Presentation to the Planning Commission, which is expected to set a public hearing.
  • Thursday, Dec. 17: Public hearing at the Planning Commission.
  • Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2027: Required public hearing at City Council and possible consideration.
  • Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2027: City Council vote.

Residents who want to weigh in can speak at the Planning Commission hearing in December or the council hearing in January. Planning Commission agendas are posted on the city’s Planning and Development Department website.

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