In 2025, OSW neighbors learned of a gas station project planned for 1909 Washington Avenue. The project sits at the intersection of Silver Street and Washington Avenue, where more than $4 million of public funding has been allocated to address traffic concerns.

Even more concerning, the project abuts the backyard fences of three homes.  Residents are concerned about how the project will expose them to benzene and elevated cancer risk; limit their ability to use grills and water heaters with pilot lights in their outdoor areas without risk of fire; create risks in this pedestrian-friendly neighborhood; and generally limit the use and enjoyment of the homes they have owned for more than a decade.

A June 2025 survey of 158 Old Sixth Ward residents found that 93% opposed or strongly opposed the gas station project.

The gas station will have four pumps and have a convenience store branded with the “Kudos” mark. The ownership and development team behind the “Kudos Washington” project involves several interconnected entities, including Penta Hwy 105 Venture LLC, Penta Private Equity, Rizwan Maknojiya, and Tanvir Ali, with additional control by the Greater Houston Retailers Cooperative Association, Inc. (GHRA).

Several other gas stations already exist within a mile of the proposed development, undercutting any arguments about this business being needed in the area.

Learn more about the Sixth Ward effort here: https://stop6thwardgasstation.com/

This lawsuit is based on a prospective, anticipatory nuisance — in other words, that placing a gas station as close as 10 feet to homes threatens a harm that is imminent and reasonably certain, such that a court should stop a gas station from being built, since damages afterward wouldn't adequately remedy the harm to residents who are FFF members.

The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order, temporary injunction, and permanent injunction halting construction and operation of a gas station on the site.

Because the gas station sits only 10 to 200 feet from FFF members' homes, the lawsuit alleges that it presents several risks that interfere with the use and enjoyment of their properties, including:

• Health risks, in the form of increased benzene and VOC exposure 

• Safety risks from fire and explosion danger by siting tanks close to homes where people have pilot lights and grill food

• Increasing traffic through a pedestrian corridor that has been created through public investment

• Other risks caused by alleged permitting irregularities

The case is Fuel Free Fencelines v. Penta Hwy 105 Venture LLC, Case No. 202669358 and was filed in the Harris County District Court on September 18, 2026. Fuel Free Fencelines, a non-profit organization based in Houston, is represented by Amy Dinn of Texas Community Law Partners. Read the original petition here.

The gas station project is proposed for the Old Sixth Ward, a neighborhood which predates the automobile. When platted in the 1850s, the district’s 300-foot blocks and dense street grid catered to a community that walked everywhere they needed to go. Today, almost two centuries later, the freedom to walk between businesses, parks, public transit on Washington and Houston Avenues, and 19th century Victorian homes endures, and is part of the neighborhood’s allure for residents and visitors alike.

In 1978, the Old Sixth Ward was the first Houston neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 1998, the neighborhood was designated as a Historic District by Houston City Council. In 2007, the City Council designated the Old Sixth Ward as the first Protected Historic District, and as part of this designation, City Council adopted Design Guidelines that restrict how residents and businesses may modify their properties. Demolition is not permitted except for dire situations.

In the last decade the neighborhood has seen a resurgence, with most homes occupied and neighborhood elders commenting frequently at their joy at seeing so many families with babies and small children on walks through the neighborhood. MECA, a cultural and arts center housed in a former elementary school, provides after-school and summer arts programming to children across the city and hosts an annual Dia de los Muertos festival in October and November and celebrations for the Virgen de Guadalupe and Posada in December. Catalina Coffee, a local coffee shop operated by a neighbor, and Henderson and Kane, a small local grocer and barbecue joint, also serve as neighborhood anchors.

The local Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone 13 has already invested $820,000 in improving walkability at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Silver and is slated to invest $3.7 million more along Silver Street in the next two years. Residents have raised concerns that the presence of this gas station will negate the benefits of this public investment.

A June 2025 neighborhood survey of 158 Old Sixth Ward residents found that 76% of households, and 100% of those on the gas station’s fenceline, live with someone deemed vulnerable under TCEQ guidelines. 

Formed in 2026 by Houston residents concerned about how gas stations are being built alongside residential neighborhoods, Fuel Free Fencelines is a non-profit organization that brings together residents across the city of Houston to find solutions to the health, safety, and environmental impacts of gas stations and related development.