Incorporating The Woodlands

THE WOODLANDS, TX - Incorporating The Woodlands to become its own city will be on the ballot this November. It is an important vote since The Woodlands businesses and residents will be affected by this vote. We started this series of political news articles to help residents familiarize themselves with how politics works in their own community. Since incorporating The Woodlands is an up and front issue in our minds, we wanted to direct residents to great resources for this issue. What better way to kickstart this series than with the topic of incorporating The Woodlands. Irregardless of where you stand on the issue, it is always good to do your research and become informed before November.

The Woodlands Township Board of Directors has called for an incorporation election on November 2, 2021. Residents of The Woodlands can vote 'for' or 'against' the propositions shown below:

THE WOODLANDS TOWNSHIP – PROPOSITION A
Authorizing the Type-A city incorporation of The Woodlands Township District and the adoption of an initial property tax rate of not more than $0.2231 per one hundred dollars ($100) valuation of taxable property

THE WOODLANDS TOWNSHIP – PROPOSITION B 
Upon incorporation of The Woodlands Township District into a Type-A General Law City to be called the City of The Woodlands, the transfer of the rights, powers, privileges, duties, purposes, functions, responsibilities, the authority to issue bonds, and the authority to imposes taxes from The Woodlands Township District to the City of The Woodlands

Click here for The Woodlands Township election information

What are some of the issues being asked regarding incorporating The Woodlands?

- How will incorporating affect tax rates in The Woodlands?
- Will school district boundaries change once incorporated?
- How will existing Township services be impacted?
- How will the Village Associations be affected?
- How will existing property covenants be affected?
- How will law enforcement be affected?
- How is Drainage and Flood Mitigation Affected?
- How is local government authority Affected?

Click here to view more questions asked on the Township website

Upcoming Incorporating The Woodlands Events to learn more:

The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce

The Woodlands Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting an incorporation education session for members on Monday, August 23rd and Wednesday, September 15th at Landrys at 4pm.  

Click here to register for this event

At this event there will be several experts speaking on the topic of Incorporation including:
 
* Nelda Blair: Past Chairman of The Woodlands Township Board
* Bruce Tough: Past Chairman of The Woodlands Township Board
* Gordy Bunch: Chairman of The Woodlands Township Board
* Danny Signorelli: CEO of Signorelli Companies
* Sheriff Rand Henderson: Montgomery County Sherriff


How The Woodlands government is currently setup?

According to The Woodlands Township website -

“The Woodlands Township is a “Special Purpose” government district, authorized by state statute. The Township is unincorporated and its boundaries are within both Montgomery County and Harris County, the Extraterritorial Jurisdictions of the City of Houston and the City of Conroe, and primarily within the municipal utility boundaries of 11 Woodlands Municipal Utility Districts (MUDs).”

Click here to view a graph of the governance history of The Woodlands

According to The Woodlands Township Website -

“While The Woodlands was originally founded in 1974 by George P. Mitchell, The Woodlands Township is the merger of the Community Associations of The Woodlands, Texas, and its entities with the Town Center Improvement District (TCID) of Montgomery County.

The Community Associations, which comprised The Woodlands Community Association (WCA), The Woodlands Association (TWA), The Woodlands Commercial Owners Association (WCOA), had a long history of providing governmental-type services to the residents and businesses in The Woodlands, dating back to the founding of The Woodlands in the mid- 1970s. The Woodlands Fire Department was established in January 1975 to provide fire and emergency medical services to residents of The Woodlands. The Woodlands Community Service Corporation was established in 1992 to provide staffing and managerial services to the community associations serving the needs of The Woodlands.

The Town Center Improvement District (TCID) was created in 1993 by the Texas Legislature as a governmental agency charged with promoting economic development in The Woodlands Town Center, a 1,000-acre business and commerce district. In January 2010, all of these entities came together under one governmental organization called The Woodlands Township.”


Resource Links:

The Woodlands Township Incorporation Study

The Township Incorporation Consolidated Study Report