Page 6 - Legal Aid CRP EJ Toolkit

9
development . The zoning districts that are specifically designated for needing an RAR are
Single Family (R and R(A)), Duplex (D and D(A)), Townhouse (TH and TH(A)), or Clustered
10
Housing (CH) . Based on our research, there is no standard format for the RAR. By this we
mean that there is no checklist of questions used for all RAR and the impact on a community
tends to be a case-by-case assessment. When an RAR is completed, it is distributed internally to
the decisionmakers (generally City Plan Commission or City Council) and is accounted for in the
final recommendation. Using the criteria outlined above for how residential adjacency is
described in the city code, we used the city zoning map and Google maps to determine which
operations should theoretically have had an RAR completed. The purpose of this would be to
eventually determine the cumulative impact of residential areas where industrial facilities are
operating, and ensure that the city has in fact conducted the RAR.

Step Five: Search in TCEQ Permit Database for Permits
Several different search engines were used within the TCEQ database to access information on
permit violations, complaints, enforcement orders, and compliance investigations. The process
we used is as described below.

11
Search by address (more accurate method)
● We put the address in the “street address” section
● Multiple owner/operators may come up. It may be due to a company changing its name
or the address being sold to another business. Instead of clicking on a specific
owner/operator name, it is more accurate to just look at all of the active permits
associated with that address.
○ For example, all concrete batch plants must have an air permit. On the main page
while searching for an address, we confirmed if the address was associated with
an active air permit. When we clicked on the name found on Google for that
address, only the active storm water permit appeared. This is when we decided to
search by address and included all active permits associated with that address as
more accurate.
○ Since we are most concerned with illegal actions near residential areas, we needed
to include all active permits associated with an address.
12
If the address does not work, search by customer name

9 City of Dallas, City Attorney. “Dallas City Code.” Chapter 51A. Division 51-4.800. Development Impact Review.
10 City of Dallas, City Attorney. “Dallas City Code.” Chapter 51A. Division 51-4.800. Development Impact Review.
11 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “TCEQ CR Query.” TCEQ CR Query – Regulated Entity Search,
https://www15.tceq.texas.gov/crpub/index.cfm?fuseaction=regent.RNSearch
12 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. “TCEQ CR Query.” TCEQ CR Query – Customer Name Search,
https://www15.tceq.texas.gov/crpub/index.cfm?fuseaction=cust.CustSearch
5