Montgomery County commissioners adopted the county’s first overhaul of its development regulations in March, setting new standards and requirements for new developments in unincorporated areas of the county for the first time in over 40 years.

How we got here

Work on the new regulations began in 2023 under former County Engineer Dan Wilds, who died in May 2024. According to county documents, the last time the county updated development regulation standards was 1984.

A committee was formed in July 2024 consisting of Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley, Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray and Director of Engineering Services Thomas Woolley to work on creating the new regulations alongside representatives from several engineering firms, including:

• Sam Yager, Inc.
• Stoecker Corporation
• The Signorelli Company
• Pape-Dawson Engineers
• Quiddity Engineering
• Elevation Land Solutions

“We pored over these regulations for 18 months until we finally settled on what I would call balanced development regulations,” Gray said. “The problem is, if you over-regulate, it gets so difficult to get the type of development that you want in the area and the type of businesses, because it's too expensive and it's too stringent, so you’ve got to have a balance.”

Among the new regulations, developers will now be required to submit a traffic impact analysis with most new residential and commercial developments. A traffic impact analysis is a study which examines if existing road infrastructure will be able to support new traffic or if improvements to a roadway are required. All developments will also now be required to have a minimum of a 6-foot privacy fence if the development backs up to an existing residential area.

What else?

Another new development regulation will require all subdivisions or commercial properties which disturb more than 15,000 square feet must have a Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan. The plan will require developers to have measures in place to prevent silt and sediment from running off into local drainage systems.

The regulations are applicable to all new developments outside of existing municipalities such as The Woodlands Township, Conroe, Shenandoah and Oak Ridge North. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year American Community Survey, Montgomery County's population is still growing rapidly.

Next steps

While Montgomery County does have a drainage criteria manual, Gray said during a State of the Precinct address on March 12 those regulations are also set to be re-evaluated in the near future.

The regulations will also be retroactively effective for any new developments registered within one year prior to the official effective date of March 17, meaning some developments may need to submit additional information and receive additional permits.

"We're going to make sure everybody's following the law,” Gray said. “We’re going to make sure residents in those areas, those subdivisions, they have a peaceful day. ... We're going to help protect those property owners.”