Dallas City Council will vote Wednesday on whether to spend up to $200,000 on an outside consultant for the next step in a legal process involving two longtime industrial sites in South and West Dallas.
The item is not a direct vote to shut either facility down. However, it would begin the formal “amortization” evaluation process under Dallas City Code for TAMKO’s roofing plant in Joppa, a historic South Dallas neighborhood, and GAF’s roofing facility at 2600 Singleton Blvd. in West Dallas.
Both sites were annexed into Dallas city limits in the 1950s and are now classified as “legal nonconforming uses” – meaning they predate current zoning rules that would not permit their operations at those locations today.
A city memo states that neither property currently holds the Specific Use Permit required under current zoning regulations.
If approved, the resolution would direct the city manager to hire a consultant to calculate a dollar amount under Dallas City Code that would help determine the cost of the amortization process. Within 30 days of that determination, a city council committee would be briefed and a follow-up vote would be scheduled.
The push comes from five council members: Laura Cadena (District 6), Adam Bazaldua (District 7), Chad West (District 1), Zarin Gracey (District 3), and Paula Blackmon (District 9) – who submitted the formal five-signature memo requesting the item back in November 2025.
Council Member Adam Bazaldua, whose district includes the Joppa site, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from DX by press time.
TAMKO Defends Plant Ahead Of Council Vote
TAMKO, which has operated in South Dallas for roughly 40 years, told The Dallas Express it is focused on maintaining a good relationship with the community ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
Konner McIntyre, TAMKO’s Director of Communications and Community Relations, said the company views the consultant funding as the beginning of a longer process with a potentially significant price tag.
McIntyre said the full amortization process could exceed $500 million, attributing that estimate to the Nicholas Company, a Dallas firm she said City Hall frequently engages.
The Dallas Express has not independently verified that figure as of press time.
On air quality – one of the main concerns for Joppa residents – McIntyre cited monitoring data in the company’s defense. “We have data from EPA grade monitors that show no meaningful correlation between our operations and ambient particulate levels in the area,” she said. “Prevailing winds blow toward the north and northwest, which is away from Joppa nearly 90% of the time.”
“We understand these conversations about air quality and community health are deeply important to the Joppa community and to us, and we take those concerns very seriously. TAMKO has a 40-year history in South Dallas, and we’re committed to being a good neighbor and a responsible environmental steward,” McIntyre added.
She also pointed to a city-owned site as a bigger culprit, saying the McComas Bluff Landfill is “the largest reported source of particulate emissions in Dallas County.”
On compliance, McIntyre said the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality renewed TAMKO’s air permit in August 2025, and that the company has invested more than $25 million in environmental controls over the past decade, with ongoing projects expected to cut key emissions by as much as 45%.
According to TAMKO, the Joppa plant employs around 100 workers earning an average annual income of roughly $90,000, and the facility contributes approximately $20 million annually to the DFW economy.
Joppa Residents Have Also Raised Frustrations With City Hall
The vote comes against a backdrop of long-running grievances in Joppa, one of Dallas’s historic Freedmen’s Towns recognized by the Texas Historical Commission.
In a December op-ed published in the Dallas Observer, fourth-generation Joppa resident Shalondria Galimore, who leads the South Central Civic League, questioned City Hall’s priorities.
She wrote that while Dallas appears ready to spend on industrial reviews, long-standing promises on basic needs like roads, transit, and a community center remain unfulfilled.
Galimore didn’t directly defend the plants. Instead, her focus was on City Hall, highlighting delays like a pedestrian bridge promised in 2020 that still hasn’t been built, a $250,000 EPA brownfield grant from 2021 that hasn’t been used, and road work that has disrupted the neighborhood for months and is expected to continue until at least May 2026.
If approved, Wednesday’s vote would begin the consultant phase of the amortization process. Any broader action would still require additional council steps after the consultant’s determination.
