HOUSTON – A proposed gas station in Houston’s Third Ward is sparking a broader conversation about how neighborhoods protect themselves from unwanted development in a city without traditional zoning laws.
Residents in the Riverside Terrace area say the project would place a gas station just feet from their backyards — prompting concerns about health risks, crime and property values.
“Literally my backyard,” said homeowner Nicholas Saunders. “No good — no good for anyone.”
Saunders says when he first learned about the proposal, he immediately worried about the impact on his home and his neighbors.
“Catastrophe. We’d lose money on the house. We’d never be able to sell it,” Saunders said. “There are health hazards. I’m a disabled combat veteran. I have breathing issues from when I was in Iraq. I don’t want to be breathing in benzene fumes.”
No zoning means neighborhoods rely on other protections
The situation has also highlighted the challenges of regulating development in Houston, the largest city in the United States without zoning.
Attorney David Kahne says that means neighborhoods must often rely on other tools to control what gets built nearby.
“Without zoning what we have here first and foremost are deed restrictions, and sometimes those deed restrictions can be used to block new development,” Kahne said.
Neighbors say their community does have deed restrictions, which could potentially limit certain types of development. However, they say those restrictions were not included in the original application submitted to the city.
Questions about the city’s review process
State Representative Jolanda Jones, who also lives in the area, says that raises concerns about how the process works. She tells KPRC she requested the original application submitted by the developer and was told she would need to submit a public records request in order to see it.
“If the city had done their due diligence in the first place, this property never would have been commercial,” Jones said.
Proposed solution would involve neighborhood leaders
In response, Houston City Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabazz says she’s working on a proposal that would add another layer of verification to development applications.
Her idea would require developers to get confirmation from local neighborhood leaders — such as a super neighborhood president or civic club president — about whether deed restrictions exist before submitting an application.
“If that signature is not on there, then certainly that should be a red flag that they have not done their due diligence in regard to the deed restrictions,” Evans-Shabazz said.
Supporters say the change could give communities a stronger voice in developments that impact their neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, residents in Riverside Terrace say they are continuing to organize and gather documentation of their deed restrictions as they push the city to block the gas station proposal. The developers were due to go before the city today but were moved from the planning commissioner’s agenda and tabled for two weeks at the request of Councilwoman Evans-Shabazz.