Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Waste Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Hialeah board approves Waste Connections intermodal rail transfer facility with conditions; vacates adjacent right of way
Summary
The Planning & Zoning Board approved a right‑of‑way vacation and a special‑use permit for Waste Connections to add an intermodal rail transfer facility at its Hialeah campus, subject to conditions including annual progress reports, increased landscape buffers and a 2055 reevaluation clause.
The Planning & Zoning Board approved two linked items allowing Waste Connections of Florida to add an intermodal rail transfer facility at its existing Hialeah campus east of the CSX railroad tracks: (1) a resolution to vacate and abandon a portion of Northwest 30th Eighth Avenue right of way adjacent to the site, and (2) a special‑use permit (SUP) and variance package to expand the legal, nonconforming solid‑waste operation and add rail intermodal transfer operations.
Planning staff described the unified property as roughly 7.12 acres adjacent to the Tri‑Rail market station and CSX tracks. The site currently hosts a solid‑waste transfer operation and an older materials‑recovery/recycling facility the applicant proposes to demolish. Staff recommended approval with conditions after reviewing traffic, operations and site‑visit findings and after obtaining outstanding utility “no‑objection” letters for the right‑of‑way vacation.
Applicant counsel and operations staff described the intermodal process: incoming truckloads arrive in tarped containers, staff remove tarps and seal containers with purpose‑built lids on site, and sealed containers are staged and loaded onto railcars for transport to a central landfill. The applicant said containers are "seal proof lids" and that lidding and sealing procedures are intended to prevent odor and leakage.
Staff noted the existing facility receives roughly 6,847 tons of solid waste per week; about 25% of loads originate from the City of Hialeah and the remainder from haulers across Miami‑Dade County. City staff asked the applicant for a detailed operations plan and a traffic analysis; both were submitted and reviewed. The staff report and follow‑up conditions aim to reduce visual and odor impacts: mature trees and increased landscaping along the western property line, a solid (CBS) wall along the west property line, restrictions on where loading/unloading and deliveries may occur, and an annual progress and maintenance report to City Council each June documenting compliance and outstanding items.
The board approved vacating the identified right‑of‑way and approved the SUP and variance application with conditions; votes recorded at the meeting carried the items though at least one board member recorded a dissenting vote on the SUP/variance. Conditions include a requirement that any substantial (20% or greater) increase in weekly tonnage or intermodal daily tons triggers a revised traffic analysis and an updated operations plan, and an agreement to revisit the operation’s long‑term role in 2055 (or when a county waste‑to‑energy facility becomes operational) to consider termination or modification of on‑site solid‑waste disposal operations.
Board discussion included direct questions about odor control, the technical nature of lidded, sealed containers, and how the approved operation differs from the older recycling/sorting operation that will be demolished. Staff and the applicant agreed to refine some of the proposed conditions before City Council review and to work through details including utility clearances and final landscaping and fence design.
