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Code enforcement orders immediate compliance, fines for illegal used‑cooking‑oil operation at 195 NW 70th St.
Summary
The City of Miami Code Enforcement Board ordered immediate compliance and fines after hearing testimony that a residence at 195 Northwest 70th Street was being used to collect and sell used cooking oil. The board imposed an adjudication with an immediate‑compliance order, a $1,000 per‑day fine and a $5,000 irreparable‑harm fine.
The City of Miami Code Enforcement Board ordered immediate compliance and significant fines against the owner of 195 Northwest 70th Street after testimony that the property was being used to collect and sell used cooking oil.
At a March hearing, a longtime neighborhood observer and private security contractor, Dennis Williams, told the board he had photographed large trucks arriving at the property and connecting hoses to tanks in the backyard to remove used cooking oil. “They pick up used cooking oil that has been sometimes stolen, sometimes collected by legitimate companies,” Williams said, adding that “legitimate companies don’t work out of the back of their house.”
A city code inspector presented photographs and field notes showing commercial trucks and hoses at the rear of the property and said the site lacked permits or a certificate of use for commercial storage or transfer of oil. The inspector told the board that some of the equipment on site appeared to be leaking or dripping and that the city had not received corrective action from the property owner.
Board members discussed the environmental and public‑health implications. One board member characterized the ongoing activity as an environmental hazard and recommended immediate compliance and a high per‑diem fine to deter further operations. The board adopted a motion for adjudication, immediate compliance, a $1,000 per‑day fine, and a $5,000 irreparable‑harm fine; the motion was seconded and approved by the board.
The board’s order requires the respondent to stop the activity and bring the property into compliance; the fines will begin if the ordered remediation is not begun. The board record notes the matter has been ongoing for months and that police and code enforcement have previously visited the site.
The board did not record a roll‑call vote total in the public hearing transcript; the motion passed when members in the room indicated approval. The board advised that any appeal of an order would follow the procedure outlined in the board’s procedural statement (appeal to the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court within 30 days).
