Doral residents, who for four decades lived near Miami-Dade’s only incinerator, are now assured that the next one, if built, won’t be in Doral.
Commissioners last week set a policy that will exclude Doral as the site of an incinerator to replace the county Resource Recovery Facility within the city that burned and was closed two and a half years ago.
That won’t let Doral off the hook in dealing with waste, however. Commissioners also voted to study the closed Doral incinerator site to see if part should continue to handle some solid waste, though that won’t include incineration. They also asked the mayor’s office to appraise the county-owned site to see if part or all can be sold or rented, with proceeds helping offset higher costs of handling solid waste outside of Doral.
Meanwhile, commissioners said talks will continue between the county and City of Doral about how much the city will reimburse the county for the higher costs of shifting to a more expensive site than Doral to build an incinerator.
Commissioners did not pin down a new site or its developer.
Indeed, they broadened the search by agreeing that not all facets of solid waste need be dealt with on an all-purpose waste campus to replace the Doral incinerator but could take place in multiple locations with specialized functions, such as just composting or recycling. They also created a new policy that aims to process at least 40% of solid waste by such methods.
Meanwhile, the mayor’s office is to deal with two companies to seek more specific proposals on how they can provide a waste to energy plant. Their earlier proposals did not mention sites and were based on a single-campus solution. Multiple locations could provide more options.
As commissioners finally agreed on a path forward that includes some form of waste to energy plant to replace the one in Doral, the sole firm step was to exclude five areas from potential locales for that plant. In addition to Doral, the excluded list includes Medley, Sweetwater, the Opa-locka west airport site, and the unincorporated area of Northwest 58th Street. The site search is also to exclude areas within a half-mile of residential areas.
The genesis of the exclusions he sought, said Commissioner Juan Carlos Bermudez, who spearheaded the action, was “not being parochial, not having been the founding mayor of Doral, not having been the person that’s been closest to that Resource Recovery Facility that was going to be a problem, was a problem for the last 20 years,” but the health hazards of a nearby incinerator.
“People do get damaged being close to those facilities,” he said. “I’ve lived by the incinerator since 1998, before Doral was even a city, and I’m the closest person that’s ever lived by the incinerator of all the elected officials in the history of Doral.”
“If we have to choose a site, we can find an alternate site that is not near a municipality,” Mr. Bermudez told commissioners before they voted. He cited the heavy traffic to the facility as a factor in addition to health risks.
This was not the first time Mr. Bermudez had brought to the commission his resolution that at the outset was to exclude just Doral, Medley and Northwest 58th Street from site consideration.
Whatever site is chosen, the cost of building and operating a new incinerator is at this point a mystery.
“Until we have a full design and an exact bid we would not know the exact price” of a replacement site for Doral, said Roy Coley, county chief utilities and regulatory services officer.
“I can find it in me to support a decision not to build it in Doral based on all the factors that have come forward,” said county commission Chairman Anthony Rodriguez. “I want to make sure that Doral still pays their fair share if it is ultimately moved out of Doral.” That share, he said, “can be an open conversation. I’m not saying that it has to be X.”
“I had recommended to the … City of Doral to continue the conversations with the administration” on that payment, said Mr. Bermudez. “I’m not privy to any of those discussions and I’m not on the Doral council, so I won’t be able to make that decision.”
Before commissioners voted, Commissioner Oliver Gilbert III noted that “The only stated policy that we have so far is that there should be some compensation…. I did have conversations with Doral. And while it’s not an amount that – it no way represents the amount needed – I’m very comfortable with the conversations that I’ve had with Mayor [Christi] Fraga about what portion of the … financing we could absorb from them to help offset the costs” of putting an incinerator in a more costly site.
Doral, Mr. Gilbert said, shouldn’t have to pay the entire difference in increased solid waste costs to the county. “That’s not what we’ve ever wanted from this board, but we have thought that if we’re going to move it someplace that’s more expensive because you don’t want it in Doral, to the greatest extent possible that you can offset that cost.”
Of the current funding talks, he said, “While I think it’s not an amount that’s going to blow us away, it’s a contribution and a showing of good faith.”
Even with some contribution, Mr. Gilbert said, anywhere other than the Doral site will raise the county’s cost. Estimates the commission was working with put the cost increase to move from Doral at $200 million.
“I’m OK with picking a site that’s maybe best for the community but not the cheapest site,” Mr. Gilbert said, “but we have to understand that we have to pay for that.”
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