Houston Proposes Gas Station Rules to Keep New Pumps Off Narrow, Residential Streets
City officials have presented a proposed Retail Fuel Station Ordinance that would screen new gas stations by road width and surrounding homes — a plan born in Riverside Terrace, where residents fought a station proposed at Live Oak and Southmore.
Houston is considering its first citywide rules on where new gas stations can be built. City officials presented a proposed Retail Fuel Station Ordinance to the City Council's Economic Development Committee on Wednesday, October 21, FOX 26 Houston reported, a move that comes months after residents in Riverside Terrace fought a proposed gas station and convenience store near their homes.
The proposal is built on the city's own permitting record. Officials reviewed 188 gas station applications filed over the past four years in the Harris County portion of Houston and found that 95 percent — 178 applications — were on major thoroughfares, 52 percent had homes within 50 to 100 feet of the site, and 27 percent were on roads 80 feet wide or narrower, or on smaller streets. Houston, unlike Dallas, Austin and San Antonio, has no traditional zoning; the ordinance would set location standards for fuel stations without creating it.
Under the draft, every new application would face a two-step test. A station on a major thoroughfare wider than 80 feet would qualify automatically. On a narrower road, the city would measure how much of the surrounding area is residential: less than 50 percent residential would qualify, while 50 percent or more would not, unless the developer wins a variance. The rules would apply to new applications, not existing stations. The city's own examples show the bite: the contested site at 5204 Live Oak Street, near Southmore Boulevard in Riverside Terrace, is 100 percent residential within both 50 and 100 feet and would not qualify without a variance, and a site at 1909 Washington Avenue — 80 percent residential within 50 feet — would also fail.
State Rep. Jolanda Jones and Councilmember Dr. Carolyn Evans-Shabazz, who both live in the community, praised the move, and Riverside Terrace resident Jason Poland told FOX 26 he was encouraged the city had listened. The ordinance is not law yet: the city's schedule puts it before the Planning Commission on November 12, with a public hearing December 17, and City Council hearings and possible consideration in January 2027.
