Should The Woodlands, Texas Incorporate?

The Woodlands, TX is a master planned community. It is not an incorporated city and is run by The Woodlands Township, which was established by the Texas Legislature.

I do not think The Woodlands should incorporate. Opened in the late 70s, The Woodlands has never been an incorporated city, it was designed and built by George Mitchell, who never sold it until 1993. The Woodlands was run by community associations, including The Woodlands Community Association, The Woodlands Association, The Woodlands Commercial Owners Association and the Town Center Improvement District. In 2010, all these organizations were merged together by The Texas Legislature, forming The Woodlands Township. The Woodlands Township runs everything an incorporated city in Texas would run, except for the roads and the police. If The Woodlands were to be incorporated, The Woodlands taxpayers would entirely fund a Woodlands police department and run the roads. Currently those services are run by the county. The tax burden on The Woodlands would not be worth it, as currently the roads and police are run well. The only need to incorporate, is if The Woodlands could significantly run the roads and police better than the county and currently, that is not the case.

I do not believe we should incorporate The Woodlands. However, if in the future, the county has serious problems running our roads and police, maybe The Woodlands should take it over and incorporate.