Woodlands plans to hire consultants to study incorporation after new law makes it possible

The potential transformation of The Woodlands from its unique township governance model into a full-fledged city dominated the campaign for the township board last year.

Now that the overheated rhetoric has subsided, the masterplanned community in southern Montgomery County is taking early steps in what could be a yearslong process ending with a vote by residents on whether to incorporate.

Last week, the township board voted to publish requests for proposals from consultants to conduct an incorporation study. Board members said a firm could be selected by the end of the year.

Another vital step in the process took place during the spring legislative session. Two bills signed by Gov. Greg Abbott on June 9 eliminated certain legal barriers to incorporation that earlier legislation had failed to address, according to The Woodlands Township Board Chairman Gordy Bunch.

The problem was that state law provided no mechanism for a community as large as The Woodlands, with a population estimated at 110,000, to incorporate. Communities typically incorporate as general-law cities, which can have no more than 5,000 residents. When their population grows they become home-rule cities, which have greater authority.

The two measures signed by Abbott, SB 1014 and SB 1015, resolved this problem with regard to The Woodlands, Bunch said. He noted that all the drama of last year’s election was inspired

by a potential development — incorporation — that wasn’t legally possible at the time.

“Now we do have a direct path to become a city, but the legislation had to perfect that,” Bunch said.

Bunch was on a slate of candidates last fall targeted by ads, mailers and other messages warning voters that property taxes would increase dramatically if The Woodlands incorporated. The messages suggested that Bunch favored immediate incorporation, while Bunch said he simply wanted to prepare for that possibility.

Bunch said the annexation study would proceed in a deliberate manner, with public hearings at every stage, a process intended to inspire public trust in the outcome. “We had zero confidence” in a previous incorporation study, Bunch said.

One of the consultant’s tasks, he said, will be to develop a timetable for steps leading up to a public vote. In addition, the consultant will determine the maximum possible tax rate that would apply when The Woodlands becomes a city, and voters would have to approve that as well.

“I believe planning will take all of 2018 and possibly some of 2019,” said Bunch, meaning that an election is likely at least two years away.