Government
BY JESSICA SHORTEN
Montgomery County overhauls development regulations
What else?
Another new development regulation will require all subdivisions or commercial properties within unincorporated areas which disturb more than 15,000 square feet to 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. “Now we will have quality roads, quality devel- opments, and roads and drainage that will last 30 years now instead of lasting 10 or 12 [years]; and that’s a must,” Riley said. The regulations are applicable to all new devel- opments outside of existing municipalities such as Conroe, Montgomery and Willis. The new regu- lations will also be retroactive for one year prior to the adoption date, meaning any new develop- ments registered with the county since March 4, 2024 will also need to come into compliance.
Montgomery County commissioners adopted the county’s first overhaul of its development regulations in March, setting standards and requirements for new developments in unincorporated areas of the county for the first time in over 40 years. 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
Directing development
Under the new regulations, a traffic impact analysis is required for the following developments:
Single-family residential 100+ lots Multifamily residential 200+ units
Commercial developments 100+ acres or 1,000+ average daily traffic
The size of home lots is also being regulated:
The new regulations apply only to unincorporated areas, and not to cities.
• The Signorelli Company • Pape-Dawson Engineers • Quiddity Engineering • Elevation Land Solutions
Minimum residential lot width 40 feet
Unincorporated Montgomery County
Cities
Maximum residential driveway width 25 feet
“As a group, we decided that we had to get together, and we wanted top notch development,” Riley said. “We’re not trying to keep anybody out of Montgomery County; we just want top notch developers working for us.” 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.
Maximum commercial driveway 45 feet
45
Montgomery
Willis
SOURCE: MONTGOMERY COUNTY ENGINEERING OFFICE/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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“We pored over these regulations for 18 months until we finally settled on what I would call balanced development regulations,” Gray said. “If you overregulate, 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.”
105
Conroe
249
99 TOLL
45
N
SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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.”
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
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
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CONROE - MONTGOMERY EDITION
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