DALLAS — Janie Cisneros spent Tuesday getting the run around from the City of Dallas.
First from Assistant City Attorney Casey Burgess, who told her she needed to go to development services to submit her application for amortization.
Then from the leaders at the city’s development services – the office Burgess sent her to – who told her per the city attorney’s office – they had been told not to accept her application.
It’s the latest in a more than two-year-long battle Cisneros and the Singleton United community group have been fighting to get GAF, an 80-year-old shingle plant, out of their West Dallas neighborhood.
“They need to really think about the harm that they're causing residents in West Dallas,” Cisneros said. “People that are sick people that hope go to the ER often, people who have respiratory issues, can't breathe outside.”
Up until recently, a process called amortization was one of the few options the community had to try and get the facility shut down.
But now the city says, due to new state law SB 929 that changes how cities process amortization requests, they can’t accept her application.
“The bill does not say that a resident cannot file for amortization,” Cisneros said. “But yet the City of Dallas this morning was trying to amend the process to remove the residents' right to file.”
During a zoning committee meeting Tuesday, the city presented a draft of a proposed new ordinance they say will put them in compliance with the new law.
Then one by one, West Dallas residents pleaded with the committee to vote no to the updates.
Cisneros says the city’s proposed restrictions go beyond what’s called for in the bill.
It would remove a resident’s ability to apply for amortization directly. Instead, residents would have to submit a request to the council member over the area in question. Then the council would review the submission and decide on whether to refer the request to the zoning board.
Ultimately, the city decided to postpone its vote until next month, citing a need for more information.