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Tucson took a step Tuesday toward limiting glass-etching graffiti, as the City Council voted unanimously to restrict the etching chemicals the same way as spray paint.

The new law will prohibit minors from buying the chemicals, which will have to be placed behind the counters in many stores.

Additionally, the council also voted to delay any decision to enact a controversial neighborhood-preservation zoning overlay — which is designed principally to protect areas around the University of Arizona from more mini-dorms being built there.

The council wants the overlay zone to be fine-tuned before it's brought back for discussion in July and in August for a vote.

Councilwoman Karin Uhlich also asked city staffers to have the city's first neighborhood-protection zone — a pilot project that will create a zoning ring around the UA — ready for approval in August.

The etching chemicals are considered a menace because they can permanently mark glass as they actually melt away part of the window to create a scar that looks like frosted glass.

Graffiti vandals have been using the chemicals throughout Tucson with increasingly damaging and costly results.

Because the marks etched in the glass are permanent, owners have no choice but to replace the windows, several business owners said.

Several businesses and schools have been hit recently, with one of the worst cases of vandalism at Ventana Research Corp., which is actually in South Tucson. All of the company's large windows were defaced with the glass-etching chemicals, costing $12,000 to fix. And because the company didn't want the new glass to be marked as well, it spent an additional $10,000 on rolling metal shutters.

The city of Tucson will now treat glass-etching chemicals in the same way rules deal with spray paint: Prohibiting the sale to those younger than 18; requiring placement behind a store counter or within sight of the cashier; requiring identification from buyers younger than age 26; and forbidding their sale at swap meets and garage sales.

With the vote, Councilwoman Nina Trasoff said the city should renew its efforts to restrict spray paint as well. She said the city also needs to do more checking on businesses to ensure they are following the ordinance when it comes to spray paint because compliance has slipped.

On the neighborhood-preservation overlay, the council unanimously voted the delay action because Trasoff said "we want to do it right."

A group of property owners contends the zone would restrict uses of their land, which flies in the face of Proposition 207, a ballot initiative passed last year requiring governments to compensate landowners if the governments impose land-use rules that reduce property values.

"We don't want this to come back on us," Trasoff said.

Diana Lett, a past president of Feldman's Neighborhood Association northwest of the UA, said she wanted to see approval, but "either way we'll work with them. We're not upset."

Anne Mehochko, director of public policy for the Tucson Association of Realtors, said the delay was appropriate.

"The ordinance in its current form was not ready for adoption," she said.