I drive by a ton of development ponds, business park ponds etc on a regular basis. How do you know if theres fish, other than the tried and true going fishing method? If I could add a couple close ponds to my hour or so time wise outtings it'd probably make my fishing life more enjoyable. Does anyone have any tips?

Ask someone

Ask the same people that give you permission to fish it and then fish it and see if they are correct. 

In Florida there is a stocking program for all ponds as part of the water management. Look into it and see if there is a similar program there.

There are dozens of ponds near me.The residential ponds seem to all have fish.The ponds without houses don't seem to be as good.If its a brand new pond I don't fish it for awhile to let any fish grow up and let aquatic weeds get started.I rarely fish ponds that are void of weeds as I drive by.Of course,I don't fish in peoples yards , only common areas.If it looks good ,I stop and make some casts with my search baits , flukes or senkos.

Look for baitfish and pan fish breaking the surface. Look for the rings. It's usually a good sign.

I assume every body of water has fish in it.  Fish come out of the ground like crawdads, right??? 

try a senko  fluke   powerworm  and spinnerbait...  no bites maybe no fish..

It seems as though if the pond has a major abundance of pond scum with limited cover and a bunch of minnows, there seems to be no fish in it for me. Also look for gators if you like round them, and water birds like anhingas and cormorants which will mean that there's baitfish fit for a bass.