Montgomery Turned Down Two Duplexes on a Lot Zoned for One House. Two Council Members Said They Voted With the Neighbors.
By The Magnolia Standard · October 20, 2026
Four households on less than an acre, built to look like one house. The planning commission said no first. Then the council did, without a dissent.
The Montgomery City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, October 13, to deny a request to rezone a 0.7-acre lot inside the city.
The lot is zoned for a single-family home. Its owner asked to split it into two tracts and put a duplex on each, so four households could live where one is allowed now.
What each side put on the record
The case for the duplexes was in the council's agenda documents. The buildings were designed to fit the neighborhood and to look like a single-family home from the street, and they would have offered a cheaper place to live than a new house.
The case against came from the residents who spoke during citizen comments. They asked the council to keep Montgomery's small-town feel and to protect the value of the homes around the lot.
The city's planning and zoning commission had already recommended denial at an earlier meeting.
Two members on their own votes
Two council members said they did not personally object to the project and voted no because the neighbors did.
"I feel it's not really anything different, and I've lived here over 50 years," said council member Cheryl Fox. "But on the other hand, I can see that the citizens are very much opposed to it."
Council member Jeff Glaser said there would be other places for duplexes and lower-cost housing. "We're a small city, and we're surrounded by so much," he said. "I moved here myself about four years ago to a small town and it's grown so much."
Inside city limits, that call belongs to the council. Most of the county around Montgomery has no zoning at all, which is why county commissioners asked Austin earlier this month for limited land-use authority, as we reported on October 9.
Also approved Tuesday: a bigger sewer line on Hwy. 105
The council awarded a $318,000 construction contract to widen a sewer line along Hwy. 105 from 6 inches to 12. It serves Caroline Court, the development previously called the Villages of Montgomery. The developer is paying and the city is overseeing the work, which city staff said should start just after Thanksgiving.
The lot's address was not in the published report of the meeting, and the city had not posted the October 13 agenda in its online agenda center when we checked. If you live near it, or spoke that night, write to us.
Editor's note: this ran as straight reporting because the vote is taken and the record is settled. Where homes like these belong is a question reasonable neighbors answer differently, so we printed each side's case as it was made that night, at equal length, and left the verdict where it already sits, with the council.
Sources: Community Impact's October 15, 2026 report on the October 13 Montgomery City Council meeting, for the vote, the lot size and zoning, the proposal and its agenda-document description, the residents' comments, the planning commission's recommendation, the quotes from Ms. Fox and Mr. Glaser and the Caroline Court sewer contract; and the city's online agenda center, checked October 19, which did not yet list the October 13 meeting. Corrections to editor@themagnoliastandard.news.