What residents need to know
The DSC is responsible for overseeing the design standards for residential and commercial developments within The Woodlands, including new construction and renovations. DSC Chair Arthur Bredehoft said in the first quarter of 2025 the committee has handled 314 applications requesting variances to make home improvements.
The majority of the applications revolved around three specific types of improvements:
- Roof replacements
- Power generator installations
- New or heightened fences
Bredehoft said new rules are being used to help speed the process for a resident to apply for a variance to design standards. One such rule will ensure township design standards supersede neighborhood-specific design criteria.
“Sometimes neighborhood criteria can have a rule about a type of roof or a color of a roof, and the overall standards for The Woodlands can permit that color,” Bredehoft said. “The second part of that process would be to update the neighborhood criteria, so the neighborhood criteria matches the overall standards [of The Woodlands].”
Also of note
Bredehoft said the DSC board is also now considering additional steps including changing short-term rental regulations to provide stricter rules.
So far, 120 STRs are on file with the township, Bredehoft said; however, staff is now looking into third-party services and partnering with Airbnb to gain a more accurate count and collect the proper taxes.
“What we want to achieve in mapping is to determine the density [of short-term rentals] in some of our neighborhoods,” Bredehoft said. “I think we need to be sharing more information in different communities, because this is a big concern of a lot of residents on a national basis.”
Township legal counsel Bret Strong said enforcement has become “much easier” over the last few years, and two STR permits have been revoked because they did not abide by township regulations.
“In our community people that run short-term rentals generally do a good job, and run it the right way," he said.
What’s next?
Bredehoft said the DSC is working to finalize new commercial standards by the end of July. However, he said they are awaiting the draft report and feedback from community developers before it can be voted on by the DSC.
Bredehoft said the next area of improvement will be developing the township’s generator standards for residential properties. Their use has increased due to the number of power outages and severe weather events in The Woodlands, he said.
“We could also determine that maybe what we have is good, it's working well, and you may not have to make any changes; but we want to take a look at [generators], as this is in the top three number of applications that we deal with,” Bredehoft said.
