The discussions have been rocky since they started late last year. At one of the first meetings, community members walled out when GAF officials said they wouldn’t consider leaving town until 2029. The timeline to leave is the main sticking point for many residents.
Raul Reyes Jr., president of West Dallas 1, one of the neighborhood advocacy groups involved in the negotiations, said the community had some conversations with GAF in the hopes of reaching an agreement to leave sooner than 2029. “We think that’s too long of a period,” he said. The company says leaving by 2029 would allow it time to wind down operations and resume elsewhere.
But two months ago, Reyes said the discussions fell apart. “That’s because at the end of the day, they came back to us with ‘Look, leaving any time sooner than 2029 is not on the table,’” Reyes said. The last in-person meeting between GAF and West Dallas community members took place in June.
A spokesperson for the company told the Observer in a written statement that it has voluntarily committed to winding down operations by July 2029 and pursuing a permanent solution that meets the needs of the community and ensures the property can’t be used for industrial purposes in the future. The company also said that it has taken steps to reduce emissions at the West Dallas facility.
“We have seen how West Dallas is changing, and heard the community’s concerns,” a company spokesperson said in a written statement. “We are supportive of maximizing the potential of West Dallas and are working with the city and community to ensure the future of 2600 Singleton is in line with their vision for West Dallas.”“Our health and our lives are at stake here." – Janie Cisneros, Singleton United
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The company said it had a dialogue with the community into the summer and it is open to continuing those talks. “We have not ended our conversations with our neighbors and hope to continue down a collaborative path with the city and the community to move forward,” the company said. “We are continuing to work through the city of Dallas zoning process to make permanent the commitments we have made to the West Dallas community.”
The company wants a zoning change that would allow industrial uses on the property until 2029.
According to D Magazine, GAF’s parent company, Building Materials Corp. of America, filed for the zoning change on Sept. 7 last year. The change was filed by Masterplan, a zoning consulting firm, on behalf of the company. It would change the zoning of the 26.5-acre tract from industrial research to a planned development district. The planned development district would be zoned with a mixed-use designation to allow for high-density retail, office space, hotels or multifamily residential apartments, according to the magazine. The change, if approved by the city, would come with a special use permit allowing the plant to operate until 2029.
But to get that zoning change, the company will need some buy-in from the community, which it doesn’t have yet, according to Janie Cisneros.
Cisneros, leader of the neighborhood group Singleton United, which has also been involved in the negotiations, said it seems more reasonable for GAF to leave in three years, but the company won’t budge on its timeline.
Cisneros lives within walking distance of the plant and has lived in the community nearly her whole life. She said her father died of cancer, her mother’s health is compromised and her daughter suffers from asthma. She suspects pollution to be the cause of all this. A 2020 emissions report by Paul Quinn College named the factory the primary source of air pollution in Dallas County.
Cisneros said to some residents, all of this might just look like a rocky business deal in the works. But to her and others in the community, it’s much more than that.
“Our health and our lives are at stake here,” she said. “We’re in the sacrifice zone and we’re inhaling the emissions that are coming from the factory and it’s affecting our day-to-day. … You’re asking people to sacrifice themselves. This isn’t a deal for us. This is my life and death over here.”
