The proposed location of the denied zoning application on the northeast corner of Julius Schepps Freeway and Simpson Stuart Road
Dallas City Plan Commissioners unanimously denied an industrial zoning application today after Floral Farms neighbors, including local Shingle Mountain activist Marsha Jackson, and local community groups spoke in opposition. It was denied with prejudice, meaning the applicant cannot request the zoning change again for two years without first obtaining a waiver from the city.
East Dallas Greater Good has been monitoring the city’s early zoning notification list since East Dallas neighbors were caught off guard by a concrete batch plant application last summer. Co-founder Kathryn Bazan joined Southern Sector Rising, Floral Farms: Neighbors United/Vecinos Unidos, and Inclusive Communities Project to speak in opposition to the Specific Use Permit request for the property, located at the northeast corner of Julius Schepps Freeway (I-45) and Simpson Stuart Road. The site is located between the former site of Shingle Mountain and the EPA Superfund Site at Lane Plating Works.
The applicant’s initial filing was a request turn a pond into a construction materials dump – a place where unspecified materials from various construction sites could be dumped to fill in an on-site pond. The pond had been deemed a closed landfill by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and identified in a study by the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
But the applicant made it clear that the ultimate objective was to return the site to grade in order to conduct additional industrial activities there. To do so, the operator planned to bring 100-150 truck loads of materials a day, 7 days a week from 7am – 7pm for 850 days. If the applicant was unsuccessful in obtaining an additional authorization to operate a rock crushing and materials yard, a concrete batch plant use was mentioned.
With the prevailing wind direction in North Texas from south to north ten months out of the year, this meant that the Joppa neighborhood directly north of the site would bear the brunt of any negative air quality impacts. The other two months out of the year, winds blow north to south – directly into Floral Farms neighbors.
In just a cursory review, the applicant has received four air quality violations from the TCEQ within the last 4 years, including failure to prevent discharging of dust from traveling off-site and impacting off-site receptors. They also have numerous complaints from neighboring properties.
The property contains a segment of Five Mile Creek, which is the main tributary to the Trinity River in the area. Both surface water and groundwater in this area are impacted by contamination at Lane Plating Works, the now EPA Superfund site located just around the corner to the west. It doesn’t take hexavalent chromium or heavy metals to contaminate a water body, it can also be done with non-hazardous fill materials, sediment and activities like the applicant was proposing on this site.
The proposed industrial operation is also located less than 3,000 feet from Joppa Preserve, the city’s own 300-acre park space that includes a lake, nature trails and picnic areas.
In comments to the City Plan Commission, Bazan asked commissioners to consider the negative environmental impacts and to adhere to the city’s Comprehensive Environmental and Climate Action Plan goals.
“If we have clear objectives to: take a comprehensive approach to addressing air quality at the neighborhood level (Goal 8) and; protect and enhance ecosystems, trees and green spaces that improve public health (Goal 6) and; protect our water resources (Goal 5); then it starts with protecting residential properties, park spaces and water bodies from the inevitable impacts of industrial zoning in those areas.”
“This area has long been known for and will unfortunately for even longer be known for industrial operators who flagrantly violate our zoning and environmental regulations for profit at the expense of neighbors,” she said.
Marsha Jackson, Floral Farms resident and community leader with
Neighbors United/Vecinos Unidos Residential Association, spoke out against the proposed plan as well. Fresh off the heels of a win with the removal of Shingle Mountain from her back yard, she spoke about the three year struggle and the challenges neighbors continue to face.
Neighbors United/Vecinos Unidos Residential Association, spoke out against the proposed plan as well. Fresh off the heels of a win with the removal of Shingle Mountain from her back yard, she spoke about the three year struggle and the challenges neighbors continue to face.
“Because of those pollutants, my health has deteriorated dramatically. Although the mountain is finally gone, the land has not been remediated and our air continues to be polluted.” Neighbors also refuse to accept that their Southern Dallas neighborhood is a place for dumping.
“People do not belong next to polluters. There is a long way to go for this to be realized in the City of Dallas, but this is an opportunity to take a first step in that direction. Stop this polluter before it becomes part of the environmental crisis residents in Southern Dallas are experiencing because of discriminatory zoning,” Jackson said.
“I know for a fact that once they get in, it’s hard to get them out.”