A proposed code amendment could block the process West Dallas residents living near a decades-old shingle factory hoped to use to get the facility shut down.
And some council members said Tuesday they need more information before they act on it.
For years, people living along Singleton Boulevard within eyesight of the GAF plant have said the facility’s emissions are harming their health. Residents have testified to state regulators they often wake up to a foul stench in the air — and dust settling on their cars and lawns.
Prior to SB 929 being passed last year, residents could file for a scheduled closure — also called amortization — of certain nonconforming land uses across the city.
City officials removed that right in a proposed amendment to the ordinance that has made its way through two zoning commissions and was briefed for the first time to members of the council during Tuesday’s Quality of Life, Arts and Culture Committee meeting.
West Dallas residents and environmental activists have been blocked twice from filing a closure application and prompted a lawsuit against the city which is ongoing.
Throughout the entire saga, GAF representatives have maintained the plant’s emissions do not exceed state and federal air quality standards.
After questions related to the process and what the impacts could be for nonconforming uses — specifically industrial uses — the committee seemed almost unanimous in their decision.
“I can keep asking questions all day long on this,” District 11 Council Member Jaynie Schultz said during the meeting. “I would recommend, if we may, that we make a recommendation that this gets briefed to full council.”
District 9 Council Member Paula Blackmon agreed.
“I understand it enough to ask more and deeper questions after it’s been a thoughtful process and discussion,” Blackmon said.
Both the council members said there were a lot of uncertain aspects to the amendment and, ultimately, the decision would be coming back to the full council.
During the meeting, Schultz wanted to know what kind of protections the city had to enforce against heavy polluters. City staff members told her the city has ordinances related to the environment — and if the issue was severe enough, the city could reach out to state or federal regulators.
“If it doesn’t necessarily exceed EPA, but we know that it’s got an impact because of our air quality monitors, or our water…how do we then protect our residents if we can’t amortize something that’s within that range?” Schultz asked.
“I think on each one of those it would have to be a case-by-case basis,” Bert Vandenberg, the city’s chief of general council, responded. “I don’t want to say the wrong thing.”
The issue is a sensitive one that has gained intense community backlash at City Hall. Janie Cisneros, leader of the West Dallas community group Singleton United/Unidos, has been trying for years to gain support from city leaders to advocate against the GAF plant.
While committee members said there was not one specific example of a potential amortization case, Cisneros’ attempts to start that process with GAF have been widely publicized.
“I have received communications from two different organizations advocating for a neighbor application process…so there is clearly interest in that from our community,” District 14 Council Member Paul Ridley, who chairs the committee, said during the meeting. “But I think that’s something full council needs to consider.”
Downwinders at Risk, a decades-old environmental justice group, sent the committee documents around the origins of SB 929 — and an independent amortization study that shows how much it would cost to shutter the GAF plant, according to emails reviewed by KERA.
That report estimates it would cost the city anywhere from $36 million to around $45 million to amortize the plant — with a timeline of closing in almost three years.
Currently, GAF has said it would voluntarily exit the area in 2029. Community members have said that is not soon enough.
The committee did not say when the item would be placed on a council agenda – but the amortization issue is headed that way.
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