diff --git a/docs/source/commands.rst b/docs/source/commands.rst
index 1706fbe..cfcfbf7 100644
--- a/docs/source/commands.rst
+++ b/docs/source/commands.rst
@@ -28,27 +28,7 @@ described in :ref:`server_configuration`.
 
 Reloading Automatically as Files Change
 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
-
-Pausing to restart your development server as you work can be interruptive, so
-``pecan serve`` provides a ``--reload`` flag to make life easier.
-
-To provide this functionality, Pecan makes use of the Python ``watchdog``
-library.  You'll need to install it for development use before continuing::
-
-    $ pip install watchdog
-    Downloading/unpacking watchdog
-    ...
-    Successfully installed watchdog
-
-::
-
-    $ pecan serve --reload config.py
-    Monitoring for changes...
-    Starting server in PID 000.
-    serving on 0.0.0.0:8080, view at http://127.0.0.1:8080
-
-As you work, Pecan will listen for any file or directory modification events in your project and silently restart your server process in the background.
-
+.. include:: reload.rst
 
 The Interactive Shell
 ---------------------
diff --git a/docs/source/development.rst b/docs/source/development.rst
index f34a3f2..f987ddf 100644
--- a/docs/source/development.rst
+++ b/docs/source/development.rst
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
 .. _development:
 
-The Pecan Development Environment
-=================================
-TODO: Special topics related to Pecan local development
+Developing Pecan Applications Locally
+=====================================
 
 Reloading Automatically as Files Change
 ---------------------------------------
-TODO
+.. include:: reload.rst
 
 Debugging Pecan Applications
 ----------------------------
@@ -14,4 +13,21 @@ TODO
 
 Serving Static Files
 --------------------
-TODO
+Pecan comes with simple file serving middleware for serving CSS, Javascript,
+images, and other static files.  You can configure it by ensuring that the 
+following options are specified in your configuration file::
+
+    app = {
+        ...
+        'debug': True,
+        'static_root': '%(confdir)/public
+    }
+
+...where ``static_root`` is an absolute pathname to the directory in which your
+static files live.  For convenience, the path may include the ``%(confdir)``
+variable, which Pecan will substitute with the absolute path of your
+configuration file at runtime.
+
+.. note::
+    In production, ``app.debug`` should *never* be set to ``True``, so you'll
+    need to serve your static files via your production web server.
diff --git a/docs/source/reload.rst b/docs/source/reload.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4898e57
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/source/reload.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+Pausing to restart your development server as you work can be interruptive, so
+``pecan serve`` provides a ``--reload`` flag to make life easier.
+
+To provide this functionality, Pecan makes use of the Python ``watchdog``
+library.  You'll need to install it for development use before continuing::
+
+    $ pip install watchdog
+    Downloading/unpacking watchdog
+    ...
+    Successfully installed watchdog
+
+::
+
+    $ pecan serve --reload config.py
+    Monitoring for changes...
+    Starting server in PID 000.
+    serving on 0.0.0.0:8080, view at http://127.0.0.1:8080
+
+As you work, Pecan will listen for any file or directory modification events in your project and silently restart your server process in the background.
diff --git a/pecan/__init__.py b/pecan/__init__.py
index 521d7ff..ebcfebf 100644
--- a/pecan/__init__.py
+++ b/pecan/__init__.py
@@ -51,6 +51,12 @@ def make_app(root, static_root=None, debug=False, errorcfg={},
         # Support for serving static files (for development convenience)
         if static_root:
             app = StaticFileMiddleware(app, static_root)
+    elif static_root:
+        from warnings import warn
+        warn(
+            "`static_root` is only used when `debug` is True, ignoring",
+            RuntimeWarning
+        )
 
     # Support for simple Apache-style logs
     if isinstance(logging, dict) or logging == True: