Dallas City Council approved an agreement on Wednesday to contract with multinational law firm Covington & Burling LLP to help enforce a settlement agreement over the development of the former U.S. Naval Air Station at Hensley Field.
The city will pay Covington & Burling $300,000 in periodic payments to also help with litigation against the federal government related to environmental contamination at the site.
Hensley Field sits on more than 700 acres of land on the border of Dallas and Grand Prairie. Once the home of the Naval Air Station Dallas, the U.S. Navy leased Hensley Field from the city of Dallas in 1949 until 1999.
By the end of the Navy's lease, Hensley Field had a "broad array of hazardous substances" in "meaningful levels," according to court documents.
The city sued the federal government in 2021, seeking monetary relief for the contamination. They reached a settlement agreement the following year, which set the deadline for cleanup by the end of 2017.
Over the last five years the city has made plans to develop a mixed-use development community on the property. The project kicked off in November 2020 and the final master plan was adopted in December 2022.
Since the plan was adopted, the project was paused due to environmental contamination which still exists on the site seven years after it was supposed to be cleaned up.
Last year, the city pushed for cleanup once again and initiated legal proceedings.
At the time, former Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax said the city appreciated all the U.S. Navy's efforts to remediate the site over the course of 20 years.
"We are confident that we can reach an agreement on the final phase of the project that ensures Hensley Field can be safely developed into a premier community offering mixed income housing, recreation, commercial space, and more," Broadnax said in a news release. "We will continue these productive discussions with the U.S. Navy and remain focused on reaching a consensual agreement.”
KERA reached out to Interim City Manager Kim Tolbert and will update with any further comment.
Dallas City Council approved the contract with Covington & Burling as part of its consent agenda and did not speak further on the item.
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