In November of 2019, a company filed an application for a Special Use Permit to construct both a concrete batch plant and an asphalt plant at Zacha Junction, just 1,200 feet from the nearest residential property. City staff recommended approval – even though the zoning for Planned Development 5 specifically excludes activities that emit dust or create odor – but included two-year operating limits for both plants in their recommendation. By the time the project was approved in March 2020 by the City Plan Commission, the operating limit was increased to a total of eight years.

In May, a retired couple in the neighborhood saw that the item passed the City Plan Commission and had been pulled from the city council agenda to allow more time for public input. The couple started an online petition to city council to deny the application. That petition was shared to the neighborhood app and from there, neighbors began to express their growing concerns about the project. From those discussions, a small group of residents met, created an action plan and formed East Dallas Greater Good.

In the two short weeks between our first meeting and the date the item went before the city council, our neighbors came together to create a research team, a social media presence, a community engagement event and an information outreach campaign that reached more than 1,500 neighbors and numerous neighborhood associations, community alliance groups, local businesses and the school district. We garnered local news and print media attention for several days leading up to the council meeting. And most importantly, city council heard our concerns about the health, quality of life and environmental impacts this project would bring to East Dallas through thousands of phone calls, emails and social media comments. In late June, after a twelve-hour city council meeting where nearly thirty registered speakers spoke in opposition, the application was unanimously denied by council.

Today, we are a community of almost 2,000 East Dallas residents, and growing.

We continue to use our research and experiences with the city to identify opportunities to change long-standing processes that don’t serve residents and to enhance community engagement in these processes. We firmly believe no community should have to defend themselves against zoning that negatively impacts their quality of life or health. And we will continue to build momentum and use the community connections we’ve established to create an East Dallas that we can all be proud to call home.

Join the East Dallas Greater Good Facebook Group for updates on what’s happening in our community, to receive project notifications and to share your ideas to improve East Dallas.