A major West Dallas polluter is leaving — but not fast enough for neighbors

Along a stretch of Singleton Road, West Dallas’ major thoroughfare, sits GAF Materials, a large industrial plant that chemically treats fiberglass to make roof shingles. 

On one side is a City-owned community center and library. On the other are a dozen or so  residential homes and a former public middle school functioning as a waystation for high school students who lost their building in a tornado three years ago.

Across the street is a manmade lake that sits atop a former sand and gravel pit, surrounded by public housing that has a history dating back to the ’50s, when it was the largest federal housing project built to date.

And amid all of this are 26.5 acres that house one of West Dallas’ biggest sources of sulfur dioxide and particulate matter pollution, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s 2020 emission inventories. Both substances can harm the lungs.

After nearly 80 years in the West Dallas neighborhood, GAF Materials is beginning the process of closing its facility. Residents pushed to make this happen for years. 

Though GAF has acquiesced, the company seems intent to leave on its own terms — a seven-year departure plan that asks the City of Dallas for a zoning change that would upgrade the land use possibilities from a shingle plant to a mix of residences and retail shops. 

Neighbors don’t understand why GAF needs so long to leave and question who will truly benefit from a land upgrade. Once again, they have to defend their vision for their neighborhood.

Who benefits from the land — GAF Materials or West Dallas neighbors?

As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reviewed GAF’s federal permit last year, West Dallas neighbors seized the opportunity to flood the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) with public comments, urging the national and state agencies to show the shingle plant the door. 

It took another year before GAF representatives and West Dallas leaders sat down to begin negotiating an exit strategy, but those negotiations didn’t make it past the first meeting. 

“GAF broke trust with the community by walking away from the table [in July]. But these are the people they’re going to have to deal with anyway,” said Stephanie Champion — a West Dallas resident who leads Builders of Hope’s neighborhood planning efforts — to GAF representatives at the meeting.

Later that month, GAF announced it would voluntarily cease operations at the West Dallas plant and leave by 2029 — far later than residents say they think is reasonable.

Then in September, GAF filed an application with the City of Dallas to rezone 2600 Singleton Boulevard from “industrial research” to a mixed-use “planned development district,” or PD. GAF’s plant is a nonconforming land use, meaning its manufacturing operation is not allowed under the current zoning but was grandfathered in. The proposed PD would forbid all industrial uses on the property after 2029.

As part of the zoning permit process, GAF needs to show that it has met with the neighborhood and has its support. That means overcoming the distrust inflamed by GAF’s choice to make a unilateral decision rather than following up with July’s community conversations.

So GAF hired communications agency Allyn Media, a known entity in Dallas politics, and zoning consultant Masterplan, a regular player in Dallas land use decisions, to spearhead a series of six meetings with West Dallas residents.

Meeting Schedule

Topic	Date	Time	Location
Vision Process	November 30	6:00 PM	3212 N Winnetka Ave, Dallas, TX 75212
Emissions Discussion	January 11	6:30 PM	3710 N Hampton Rd, Dallas, TX 75212
Zoning Discussion	January 24	6:30 PM	3710 N Hampton Rd, Dallas, TX 75212
Design Charette	February 7	6:30 PM	3710 N Hampton Rd, Dallas, TX 75212
Recommendations	February 21	6:30 PM	3710 N Hampton Rd, Dallas, TX 75212
Final Presentation	TBD	6:30 PM	3710 N Hampton Rd, Dallas, TX 75212

Polluted air and eroded trust

The first meeting took place Nov. 30 at the Anita Martinez Recreation Center in West Dallas. The recreation center is not the closest City facility to GAF; the West Dallas Multipurpose Center is next door to the shingle plant. 

Attendees expressed frustration that the meeting location was almost two miles away from the neighborhood GAF is in, and suggested perhaps GAF didn’t want the shingle plant odors to infuse the meetings.

Lee Kleinman, a senior advisor for Masterplan and a former north Dallas City Councilmember, led the discussion. In the back of the room, Jim Schermbeck with environmental advocacy group Downwinders at Risk held a sign calling out Kleinman for voting to relocate the Argos Cement Plant closer to West Dallas homes in 2015.

According to Masterplan’s presentation, GAF’s exit plan has so far been shaped by conversations with the City of Dallas environmental commission, City Council, and West Dallas residents. Kleinman says GAF’s goal is to create a document that the City can enforce to guarantee their exit in seven years.