A fight over mulching Dallas’ storm debris could delay cleanup efforts after dust from a temporary maintenance site clogged air conditioning units at a nearby vocational school.
Medisend College of Biomedical Engineering Technology sought a temporary restraining order July 3 to stop the city from grinding debris on 12 acres of vacant land behind its campus off Greenville Avenue.
During a Monday court hearing, attorneys representing the school and the city agreed to a site visit to assess concerns and efforts to mitigate the accumulation of dust.
Judge Gena Slaughter called a 24-hour recess on the hearing for the temporary restraining order. Monica Uribe, an attorney from the school’s side, said Medisend will get a third party expert to conduct an evaluation.
Officials from the school allege sawdust from grinding the debris in wood chippers, mulchers and skid steers clogged the building’s HVAC system in the middle of a blistering Texas summer, according to court filings.
Fractured air conditioning caused owners to cancel classes and close the school. Replacing units can cost over $50,000, and loss of revenue may be even more, according to the filings.
Medisend CEO Nick Hallack said since the classes primarily offered to veterans are intensive seven-month courses, missing a week of classes is akin to missing “80 hours of one course.” Classes are geared to teach students how to fix medical equipment.
“The problem now is we have a class coming in in two weeks of 12 students,” Hallack said. “We don’t know whether we can bring them in or not.”
City officials declined to comment citing pending litigation.
“Our goal is to maintain operations responsibly and to be a considerate neighbor throughout this temporary disaster response,” said Clifton Gillespie, director of the Dallas Sanitation Department on July 3, before being made aware of the request for the temporary restraining order.
The city’s operation on 12000 Greenville Ave. was set up to tackle the aftermath of the May 28 storm, which caused widespread damage from downed trees and power lines. Four days of heavy rain and thunder left 650,000 homes and businesses in North Texas without power. Oncor officials said the storm was among the worst the region has experienced.
The city received temporary approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to process the debris on May 31, which will be in effect until Aug. 26, Gillespie said. Department officials were monitoring the site “to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” he added.
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spokesperson Ricky Richter said debris processing at the North Dallas facility began the week of June 17. Hallack’s facility filed a complaint 10 days later, citing the presence of large plumes of dust on the college property. An inspector visited the site, and the investigation was ongoing, Richter said. In the meantime, city officials sent two water trucks to suppress the dust.
Ripples of the storm are still coursing through Dallas County.
Sidewalks outside homes are laden with piles of broken tree limbs and equipment. Sanitation workers say they’ll complete the first round of storm debris removal by July 26. In total, the cleanup is likely to cost the city $8.3 million.
The 12 acres of vacant land have seen plans with multiple iterations in recent years.
Ideas to build a homeless housing project failed to garner support during the pandemic. Another plan to build an agricultural-centered project driven by Bonton Farms at Lake Highlands with tiny homes for those experiencing homelessness, coffee shops and coworking spaces was abandoned.
Recent plans for the site included building six pickleball courts on the park land and using the rest of the space for Dallas Water Utilities facilities.