By Joy Ashford and Devyani Chhetri
Friendship-West Baptist Church, a Black megachurch in Oak Cliff, is seeking an injunction against a developer planning to build a 200,000-square-foot warehouse near the church’s property. The church is citing “environmental racism” and the city’s antiquated zoning practices.
The warehouse would be located between the church and a government building and across the street from a high school and a residential neighborhood with many senior citizens.
“All that may be legal is not logical, and all that is permitted is not prudent,” the church said in its Dec. 14 Civil District Court filing, arguing the trucks that will come in and out of the property, owned by Stonelake Capital Partners, would be a nuisance, exacerbate pollution and noise and pose a safety risk for homeowners and students nearby.
Here are five things to know about Friendship-West Baptist Church and its efforts to stop the warehouse’s construction.
How the dispute has unfolded
In 2021, SL6, an entity of real estate investment firm Stonelake Capital Partners, bought the 18-acre tract of land it’s planning to build the warehouse on. The developer has said the land was zoned for commercial use.
In August 2023, Dallas denied Stonelake a building permit for the warehouse, according to court filings, citing the absence of a proper truck traffic plan. The developer then filed an appeal, and at a November hearing, the Building Inspection Advisory, Examining and Appeals Board reversed the city’s permit denial.
In December, Friendship-West filed its injunction. Stonelake then filed a lawsuit against the city. “Politics does not trump legal rights,” Stonelake wrote in its suit. “The City and the Building Official cannot use a simple building permit process as a backdoor way to rezone property and prevent development.”
Attorney Joel Reese, who is representing the development company Stonelake Capital Partners’ SL6 entity, told The Dallas Morning News that “SL6 is committed to being a good neighbor but SL6 is also committed to protecting its property rights and its significant investment to date.”
An injunction hearing is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 19.
Friendship-West’s first services
The church held its first services in 1976 with a total of nine attendees, according to its website, and was led by the Rev. Robert L. Castle III. The Rev. Frederick Haynes III took over the congregation temporarily in 1982, and was named senior pastor the following year. Haynes has led the congregation since, over which time it has grown to over 13,000 members.
Its pastor combines faith and social activism
Haynes is not only a prominent pastor but also a social activist. He was chosen last year to take over the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, founded by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a famed civil rights activist.
In a January interview with The News, Haynes said environmental injustice is a focus for the coalition. “There’s no way as a person of faith, who believes God created all of us and wants us all to experience abundant life — there is no way I can stand on the sidelines and not fight against environmental injustice,” he said.
Friendship-West has a history of fighting environmental racism
This is not the first time Friendship-West has advocated against environmental pollution. In 2020, the church helped push for the removal of Shingle Mountain, a huge pile of trash in southeastern Dallas surrounding the home of Marsha Jackson, a Friendship-West parishioner who had lived there for decades. The dumping ground filled Jackson’s home with a foul smell, caused flooding that destroyed parts of her backyard and emitted machinery noise from around 5 a.m. to past 10 p.m., she said. Haynes spoke at a 2020 rally in front of Shingle Mountain, where he described the situation as “frustrating,” “disgusting” and “immoral.”
The site was cleared of shingles by May 2021 and the lot’s soil was cleaned up by November 2023.
The church is focused on justice
On the “Justice” page of its website, Friendship-West lists several areas of focus ranging from food and economic justice to gender and environmental justice.
The church’s programs include West Wall Street, which has a business directory of over 80 Black-owned businesses, and a Be Made Whole Counseling Center that provides mental health services.
Joy Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
