DORAL, Fla. – Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava held a town hall Monday evening regarding plans for the county’s new incinerator.
During the nearly two-and-a-half hour town hall, most public speakers had questions while some voiced their concerns.
It comes three days after she outlined the county’s preferred location in a memo: the former Opa-locka West Airport.
The site is — controversially — a stone’s throw south of the Broward County line, located near Okeechobee Road and Krome Avenue. It is among four options Miami-Dade’s mayor and commission considered to replace the previous Doral facility, which burned down in early 2023.
Bordering the new site would be Miramar. City officials have threatened to sue Miami-Dade County if it locates the incinerator at the site.
Proposed location:
Miramar officials have not only taken exception to the location’s proximity to the city and its residents, but environmentalists have raised concerns over how close it would be to the Everglades.
Miramar’s city attorney, in August, called the location a “empty, callous choice” and “legally indefensible, scientifically unsupportable and morally deficient and reprehensible.”
Levine Cava, however, in a 655-page memo dated Friday, called the old airport site “our best option to move forward in the right direction, meeting our current and future disposal needs in the most cost-effective way while accommodating innovative zero-waste technologies.”
“The recommendation on location was made to provide the best possible balance between multiple factors including cost, project timelines, and impact to residents and natural resources,” the mayor wrote. “Should the Board approve this recommendation, this site will undergo extensive permitting and regulatory approvals to further ensure the location is compatible with the need to safeguard our community and environment.”
She added, “To the extent that development of the (waste-to-energy) facility impacts wetlands, we recommend that the County perform a mitigation project within our watershed in Miami-Dade as part of our commitment to protecting the environment.”
Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the proposal at a meeting Tuesday. At least one isn’t on board.
“What we want is more information on how this would potentially impact the environment,” Commissioner Raquel Regalado said in a statement. “We still have not approved the solid waste master plan, we have still not talked about capacity in other landfills and we have yet to land on actual solutions for the five to seven years that this is going to be in litigation.”
She added, “This is not the moment to build an incinerator, we can work with Broward, we can find other locations, we shouldn’t do this.”
Miramar’s mayor Monday questioned the timing of the town hall.
“We just feel that tonight’s meeting is disingenuous,” he said. “There is a commission vote tomorrow, let that sink in.”
So too did Cris Costello, a representative for the Sierra Club.
“The last-minute nature of it is ridiculous,” Costello said. “It makes it feel like a dirty trick, because if people turn out tonight, then they’ll be less likely to turn out tomorrow.”
A spokesperson for Levine Cava defended the process in a statement Monday, saying that the county “has kept the community informed about this process since last year” and that the mayor has kept commissioners informed throughout the process.
“Tonight’s town hall is an additional opportunity to inform the public before tomorrow’s (county commission) meeting,” the spokesperson said. “Regarding notice, we provided notice as soon as it was possible and the invitation was shared widely with residents, partner organizations, media and cities. The only required legal notice for this meeting is the Sunshine requirement which we fulfilled.”
She continued, “In addition, the required public hearing for the Board of County Commissioners vote on the waste to energy item is tomorrow’s BCC meeting, which was also noticed appropriately.”
Monday night’s town hall was scheduled to be held at 6:30 p.m. at Fire Tower Miami, located west of Miami International Airport at 8000 NW 21st St. in Doral.
There was also an option to attend virtually.
Town hall location:
Mayor’s memo: