Southern Dallas residents could be one step closer to preserving their historic community 鈥� and keeping what they say are heavy polluters, out.
That is, if the Dallas City Plan Commission votes to rezone the area.
Floral Farms was once home to 鈥淪hingle Mountain鈥� 鈥� a 70,000-ton pile of roofing and other construction materials. Residents could see the looming debris from their backyards.
Now the mountain is gone 鈥� and the area is undergoing environmental remediation to remove contaminated soil 鈥� but residents hope to protect their neighborhood from future heavy polluters.
鈥淭he reason why we are asking for a rezoning鈥s to protect our families,鈥� southern Dallas resident and environmental activist Marsha Jackson said during an early March commission meeting. 鈥淭o protect our health.鈥�
Jackson was one of the residents who could see the massive pile of roofing materials from her house. And she says her health has been affected because of it.
鈥淚 have been permanently harmed because of the environmental issues,鈥� Jackson said during the meeting. 鈥淔loral Farms, we are looking for it to go back to greenery 鈥� where we first started from.鈥�
But residents didn鈥檛 get closure during the mid-March meeting. The commission decided not to vote on the issue 鈥� citing administrative errors in listing the agenda item. Now the commission plans on taking up the issue on March 21.
Although the vote was delayed, the commission still allowed for public input during the meeting.
Jackson said the Floral Farms community started by selling greens to the nursery close by. But she said things have changed.
鈥淣ow we are just engulfed in environmental [issues],鈥� Jackson said during the meeting. 鈥淭he reason why we are asking for agricultural rezoning鈥s to avoid some of these [environmental justice] issues.鈥�
Jackson said during the meeting residents have been constantly fighting heavy polluters. They hope the rezone will help to keep other industries out of the area.
The area鈥檚 current zoning includes an Industrial Research District, Industrial Manufacturing District and a Commercial Service District. Floral Farms does include some agricultural zoned areas too.
Dallas city staff鈥檚 recommendation is to approve more agricultural and single-family zoning 鈥� and also include some industrial and retail zoning as well.
鈥淟ight industrial鈥ounds less industrial than it truly is in reality,鈥� District 6 Commissioner Deborah Carpenter said during the meeting. 鈥淚t still allows freight terminals, and heavy machinery equipment and鈥ommercial; motor vehicle parking and outside storage and warehouses.鈥�
Carpenter said during the meeting all of the uses under the Light Industrial zoning have the potential 鈥� or reality 鈥� 鈥渙f causing extreme incompatibility with adjoining residential鈥� zoning.
鈥淲hen you already have a reputation and a preconceived idea about the nature of a place, and then you continue to allow through straight zoning, the aggregation of these lower end uses,鈥� Carpenter said. 鈥淒o you understand why I can see this as a baby step, its an improvement, but maybe we didn鈥檛 quite get there?鈥�
City staff said they were trying to soften the heavy industry and manufacturing in the Floral Farms area.
鈥淭here's no perfect solution,鈥� senior planner Sef Okoth said during the meeting. 鈥淎nd we do understand when development comes, we kind of baked in some guardrails for them.鈥�
Under staff鈥檚 current proposal, staff says it doesn鈥檛 believe the recommendations will make any business currently operating around Floral Farms noncompatible uses.
Some residents say they hope the plan commission takes their concerns about allowing heavy industry to continue to be allowed in their community. The plan to rezone the area is years in the making.
鈥淥nly its complete and total neglect of Floral Farms during one of the worst environmental health and justice scandals Dallas has ever seen, made this plan possible,鈥� Downwinders at Risk Director Jim Schermbeck said during the meeting.
Schermbeck said this is the culmination of years of work after residents faced pushback on their plan from city officials. Schmberck said this furthered Dallas鈥� long, dark history of racist policies.
鈥淥nly the continued existence of such racist zoning in the city code allows southern Dallas neighborhoods, like Floral Farms, to be continual victims of polluters,鈥� Schermbeck said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why this plan is important.鈥�
The plan commission is slated to discuss and vote on the changes during its meeting on March 21 at 9:00 a.m.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter .
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