In a rare moment of unity and clarity, the North Miami City Council decided to reverse its previous decision to allow contaminated soil to fill the lakes in Biscayne Landing.  At Tuesday night’s meeting, the Council voted unanimously to force the developer, Oleta Partners, at a cost of “millions of dollars,” to remove 194,000 cubic yards of aluminum laced crushed rock from the site, according to the just posted Miami Herald article, North Miami tells developer to remove contaminated material from Biscayne Landing site.

As I reported in Biscayne Landing’s Toxic Troubles, two local activists were concerned about the possible adverse environmental affects from the contaminated material and they made some noise.  In addition to contacting me, Maureen Brody Harwitz (Executive Director, Munisport Dump Coalition,EPA Region IV TAG Recipient, 1989-1999) also wrote a detailed letter to Miami Herald reporter Philippe Buteau asking him to investigate the problem.  Somehow the City Council also got the message because on Tuesday night the Council took action.

In what I had heard was a contentious marathon meeting, this issue was brought up and a vote was taken.  According to the Herald article, Oleta Partners’ decision to use the contaminated soil “raised the concern of residents, the council and the city’s Biscayne Landing site manager,” Joe Celestin, who was quoted as saying, “I was not ready to approve any amount of contaminants.”

My question is that even though Mr. Celestin “ordered that no additional material be brought to the site until further testing is done,” why was the first shipment allowed to be delivered in the first place?  If anyone has an answer to that question, I’d sure like to hear it.

Pressure from the developer to keep and use the toxic stuff at the site appears to have been intense.  Somehow, Oleta Partners managed to previously obtain approval to use the material from two county agencies, the Regulatory and Economic Resources Department and the Environmental Quality Control Board.  The developer also consulted an independent company, Westhorp & Associates, which claimed that no one should be concerned about the “high levels of aluminum” and that “testers reached the same conclusion as the county agencies: the material is not dangerous to human health,” according to the Herald article.

Apparently, the City Council wisely thought otherwise.  Although in my previous column I did not come to any conclusions about whether or not there was an environmental hazard, I did suggest that the situation warranted further investigation.  I also stated that, “If there is even the most remote possibility that the soil at Biscayne Landing poses a threat to humans or wildlife, it should be removed immediately.  At ANY cost!”

Residents at the meeting, including a public health nurse/University of Miami instructor, and a professor of environmental biology from FIU, urged the Council to order that the material be removed from the site.  Not only is it amazing that the Council actually listened to the residents, but it’s an absolute miracle that a removal order received the blessing of all five Council members.

I’m sure there are people out there who will read something more into this decision than meets the eye.  They will devise one conspiracy theory or another as to what individual hidden agenda motivated the sudden unity among the predictably discordant group of legislators on the dais.  That actually may be the case since I’ve come to expect that most politicians have ulterior motives most, if not all, of the time.

But, aside from that sad commentary on the state of modern politics, I’m glad to see that for once the North Miami City Council agreed that the health of the city’s residents and the environment of our entire community took priority over potential revenue.

It was also quite brave of them to risk pissing off Michael Swerdlow again.

Just saying.

The bigger problem, in my opinion, still remains unaddressed.  The fact that two county regulatory agencies charged with protecting our environment somehow gave Oleta Partners a free pass to dump 194,000 cubic yards of potentially hazardous material at a site where there are residential units and three schools nearby is more than disconcerting.  It’s downright scary.  If the county government won’t safeguard the public from harm, who will?

This entire fiasco only proves there can be no greater argument for residents to be actively involved in their community, keep a watchful eye on their local government, and petition their leaders to do the jobs for which they were elected.

Thanks to the resident activists who made it their business to scrutinize the goings on at Biscayne Landing and speak out against possible problems, North Miami will hopefully be soon rid of its Toxic Troubles.

Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth”