DESTROYED BY A FIRE IN 2023: A vote by county commissioners scheduled for Dec. 3 was delayed until next year after an environmental report cited landfills as alternatives for the facilty near the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort and planned new luxury condos owned by a Trump company. PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF DORAL

Miami – President-elect Donald Trump may step into the trash and energy incineration location fray between Miami-Dade County and the city of Doral.

This after Doral leaders called on Trump to block the county’s decision to keep the incinerator in the city. The county is seeking to build a $1.5 billion trash and energy plant to burn about 4,000 tons of trash daily after the existing Doral location, 6990 NW 97th Ave., was destroyed by a fire in 2023.

With her initial top choice to move the incinerator at the now defunct Opa-locka Airport West site, MiamiDade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava had decided to keep it in Doral.

A vote by county commissioners was scheduled for Dec. 3. Cava delayed it until next year after the mayor received a report from environmental experts that landfills also should be alternative sites for the incinerator.

While discussing the deferral until commissioners can workshop the issue next month prior to a vote in February, Commissioners Oliver Gilbert III and Juan Carlos Bermudez exchanged heated words over the location of the incinerator.

Gilbert, who represents the old airport site and Miami Gardens, where residents could be impacted if the structure is built there, was prepared to vote on the Doral site and didn’t want to delay a process any longer.

Miami Gardens is the largest Black community in Florida. Doral, an affluent city, constitutes about 80 percent Hispanic residents.

"What are we going to do in three months that we didn’t do in 660 days?" Gilbert asked. "The decision by nature is going to be difficult because we must balance the safety of residents and the growth of neighborhoods."

Levine Cava said moving the plant out of Doral most likely would lead to higher solid waste fees for about 350,000 households in Miami-Dade, would cost the county more than $2 million to obtain a permit, prepare and install the equipment, and the potential impact to the Biscayne Aquifer which provides drinking water to over two million residents.

Gilbert said his constituents would face higher solid waste fees and keeping it in Doral is the best option for all residents in Miami-Dade.

He said Doral’s development and tax base wouldn’t be impacted.

“They are still building town homes around it, million-dollar townhomes," Gilbert said. "Developers knew it and the purchasers knew (about the incinerator). We can make a decision to move it but we have to explain to residents why they have to pay more. For better or for worse, Doral is the least expensive site."

Bermudez accused Gilbert of bringing race into the debate and said Doral shouldn’t be singled out because of its ethnicity.

"I believe in the history of this building (county hall) we have limited race and ethnicity talks," Bermudez said. "Let’s talk about fairness and equity … Doral deserves the same respect as any other community."

Gilbert fired back and said he didn’t bring up race in the debate over the incinerator location.

"I did not say race once … you might have heard race but I didn’t say race and it’s important to respond to people that I didn’t say that," he said. "I said modularized in lower income and town homes sold for millions of dollars. I didn’t divide this issue based on race."

Bermudez’s response added such additional heat to the discussion that Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez had to intervene.

"We can replay the tape," Gilbert shouted. "You have to be kidding me! There’s a video!"

A controversial decision to pick a site for the incinerator is becoming more perplexing as the latest report Levine Cava received from environmental experts said landfills might be a more suitable method to ease health and environmental concerns.

"We are taking another look at landfilling for a waste campus that’s safe for people and the environment," Cava said at the meeting. "It makes sense to take time to review landfilling as a positive alternative for the best solution for the facility. It’s a momentous decision which could have a long-term impact on communities but I think it’s necessary to do our due diligence and look at other possible solutions."

When Levine Cava first picked the old airport site in August, Miramar residents vehemently opposed the location saying the burning fumes can cause health concerns with the 416-acre plant less than a mile from the city.

In November, Levine Cava sent a memo to county commissioners that said several studies concluded moving it out of Doral is costly and poses logistical challenges with other potential sites.

"To adequately evaluate the environmental concerns, infrastructural requirements, the feasibility and effectiveness of source separation and the economics of composting with respect to end product quality and market, and to develop minimum requirements and guidance for current and future applicants for composting facilities or expansion of existing facilities, staff recommends a one-year pilot study, coordinated, and implemented by Department of Solid Waste Management at the former West Opa Locka Airport facility," Levine Cava said in the memo.

"The study will enable the county to evaluate the process in a controlled environment, including proper management of source separation activities, leachate generation and leachate management systems, odor generation and odor control strategies, as well as characterization of leachate and compost quality. DERM staff has also initiated soil sampling at certain accessible compost facilities across MDC, however, due to various factors, such as the lack of a controlled environment and lack of infrastructure related to leachate sampling and leachate management in particular, this effort will only provide preliminary data with respect to the environmental impacts to soil that may arise from such operations and would not be an adequate substitute for the West Opa Locka pilot study."

The decision upset Doral residents who vowed to fight the county all the way to court if they have to, and gained a strong ally in the effort to move it out of Doral.

Eric Trump had dialogues with county officials about the location, according to the Miami Herald.

Doral city leaders recruited Donald Trump to step in and stymie the county from rebuilding the incinerator which had called Doral its home for 40 years before it was engulfed in flames.

They said the incinerator has had environmental impacts in their neighborhoods and the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort which is the closest to the plant.

In addition, new luxury condos, owned by a Trump company, are planned to go up near the incinerator plant.

Bermudez confirmed Eric Trump’s discussion with the county, he said on social media.

Bermudez said that a new facility at the old site could impact Trump resort, which he called “the jewel of our community."

In keeping the incinerator in Doral, the city would be spared expensive financial obligations of moving it to another area, according to county officials.

Doral officials reportedly offered the county $40 million over 30 years to relocate the incinerator. Miami-Dade was seeking about $800 million over 20 years.

Doral Mayor Christi Fraga said the city was preparing to send busloads of residents to the Dec. 3 County Commission meeting to protest the incinerator in Doral but has called off now with the vote delayed.

"We will continue to fight for what is right and fair for our community," she said in a statement.

County Commissioner Eileen Higgins also was ready to vote on a site at the Dec. 3 meeting.

Based on the figures provided by the county’s solid waste department, Higgins said she will not vote to move the incinerator because it will cost her constituents more in solid waste fees. "I can’t vote for something that increases costs for residents of District 5," she said. "And I certainly will not vote to increase costs in Homestead."

Higgins said Doral is not doing enough to absorb the costs to keep the solid waste rates affordable for other county residents if they want it out of their city.

"I want Doral to come to the table which they did not do," she said."

Levine Cava’s decision to keep the incinerator was a victory for the city of Miramar which protested the old airport site for months to protect the health of its residents and the environment.

City officials and residents campaigned against the site by circulating a petition, calling town hall meetings to garner support and even threatening to file a lawsuit.