diff --git a/.spelling b/.spelling
index 146c77176172..ae9c1ac6b8bc 100644
--- a/.spelling
+++ b/.spelling
@@ -41,6 +41,14 @@ ClusterRoleBinding
 CRD
 CRDs
 CloudSQL
+ClusterRoleBinding
+ClusterRoles
+Codespaces
+ConfigMap
+ConfigMaps
+Couler
+CronWorkflow
+CronWorkflows
 DataDog
 Dataflow
 DeleteObject
diff --git a/docs/environment-variables.md b/docs/environment-variables.md
index 6192ffc38f45..7c10ec5de0d5 100644
--- a/docs/environment-variables.md
+++ b/docs/environment-variables.md
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ most users. Environment variables may be removed at any time.
 | `WF_DEL_PROPAGATION_POLICY`              | `string`            | `""`                                                                                        | The deletion propagation policy for workflows.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
 | `WORKFLOW_GC_PERIOD`                     | `time.Duration`     | `5m`                                                                                        | The periodicity for GC of workflows.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
 | `SEMAPHORE_NOTIFY_DELAY`                 | `time.Duration`     | `1s`                                                                                        | Tuning Delay when notifying semaphore waiters about availability in the semaphore                                                                                                                                                                                        |
+| `WATCH_CONTROLLER_SEMAPHORE_CONFIGMAPS` | `bool` | `true` | Whether to watch the Controller's ConfigMap and semaphore ConfigMaps for run-time changes. When disabled, the Controller will only read these ConfigMaps once and will have to be manually restarted to pick up new changes. |
 
 CLI parameters of the `argo-server` and `workflow-controller` can be specified as environment variables with the `ARGO_`
 prefix. For example:
diff --git a/workflow/controller/controller.go b/workflow/controller/controller.go
index 6451b4e9ce12..92928277a84f 100644
--- a/workflow/controller/controller.go
+++ b/workflow/controller/controller.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"os"
 	"strconv"
 	gosync "sync"
 	"syscall"
@@ -299,7 +300,10 @@ func (wfc *WorkflowController) Run(ctx context.Context, wfWorkers, workflowTTLWo
 		log.Fatal(err)
 	}
 
-	go wfc.runConfigMapWatcher(ctx.Done())
+	if os.Getenv("WATCH_CONTROLLER_SEMAPHORE_CONFIGMAPS") != "false" {
+		go wfc.runConfigMapWatcher(ctx.Done())
+	}
+
 	go wfc.wfInformer.Run(ctx.Done())
 	go wfc.wftmplInformer.Informer().Run(ctx.Done())
 	go wfc.podInformer.Run(ctx.Done())