Houston blast prompts safety debate in city with no zoning

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s lack of zoning restrictions has left many residents with neighbors they don't want: petrochemical facilities and businesses that handle hazardous materials.

That unease was laid bare again last month when a massive explosion leveled a metal fabricating and manufacturing business in the northwest of the city, killing two workers, damaging hundreds of nearby buildings and homes, and terrifying their occupants.

Quan Nguyen, a 49-year-old plumbing, heating and air conditioning technician whose house is a few hundred yards (meters) from Watson Grinding and Manufacturing, said the Jan. 24 blast knocked him out of bed and caused his wife to fall and hit her head while she was getting a drink of water. Some of their ceilings collapsed and the explosion shattered the windows in their sleeping son's bedroom, but thankfully none of them were seriously injured.

“I feel like it needs to be separated, businesses from residential areas. If they (have) businesses around here with chemicals, probably they have to be maintained more often, more inspections for them,” said Nguyen, voicing a growing sentiment in a city and region that has endured six major industrial accidents in the past year that have killed three people, injured dozens of others, and forced temporary evacuations and school closures.

While the accidents have stoked the debate over zoning, it's highly unlikely that the nation's fourth-largest city is going to embrace major development restrictions. Instead, city leaders have begun discussing other measures, including requiring such businesses to submit to more frequent inspections and to disclose more information about the types of hazardous materials they are handling.

“We just can’t have these incidents occur without us looking for ways to mitigate future risk,” Mayor Sylvester...