I think in the US it GREATLY depends on what is going in that location.

"Light industrial", at least in my area is a pretty easy thing to rezone by the local authorities. At least it is in my area in suburbia in the twin cities MN.

Granted that doesn't mean a town couldn't just say 'no'. On the other hand there's plenty of land already potentially rezoned land you can buy and it's no big deal.

Now bigger scale industrial is a whole other story. Nobody wants a smelting plant company to just show up at the city council meeting and announce they bought a bunch of farm land on the edge of the town...