{"id":474922,"date":"2026-10-23T23:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T23:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/474922\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T23:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T23:14:08","slug":"houston-considers-tighter-rules-on-where-gas-stations-can-be-built","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/474922\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston considers tighter rules on where gas stations can be built"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) &#8212; Officials from Mayor John Whitmire&#8217;s office presented a proposed ordinance to the Houston City Council this week that would require new gas stations to be built mostly outside residential areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;It&#8217;s a quality-of-life issue,&#8221; Whitmire said. &#8220;They tend to light up bright, and they&#8217;re sometimes a gathering place for people who aren&#8217;t shopping.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Officials say the ordinance is still being drafted, but it would require most new stations to be built along major thoroughfares.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Existing gas stations wouldn&#8217;t be subjected to the ordinance, according to the presentation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Whitmire told ABC13 that citizens have complained about the presence of gas stations in residential areas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Earlier this month, ABC13 spoke to Midtown residents who protested a proposed gas station on McGowen Street.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">READ MORE: <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc13.com\/post\/midtown-residents-protesting-proposed-new-gas-station-mcgowen-street\/19936127\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Midtown residents protesting against a proposed new gas station<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Eyewitness News had some questions, though, as the ordinance is discussed for a city that famously has no zoning laws.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">ABC13 asked Whitmire if this ordinance might serve as a gateway to zoning laws in the city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;That oughta be a citywide discussion,&#8221; the mayor said. &#8220;Not just (for) an industry.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Whitmire didn&#8217;t rule out having that larger conversation with the community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;We will continue to listen to the public,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And if it&#8217;s appropriate at the right time, we can move in that direction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The mayor pointed out that alcohol can&#8217;t be served within a certain distance of churches to illustrate his belief that this proposed ordinance isn&#8217;t unprecedented.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The potential gas station ordinance wouldn&#8217;t take effect until next year, according to a presentation by Whitmire&#8217;s office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Rice University&#8217;s Kinder Institute says zoning laws have come up for three separate votes in Houston over the years. None of those efforts were successful.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) &#8212; Officials from Mayor John Whitmire&#8217;s office presented a proposed ordinance to the Houston City&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[160949,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-474922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-160949","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}