Design board recommends stronger screening, mature plantings and traffic awareness for Pump Station 25

The Miami Beach Design Review Board reviewed an advisory design for Pump Station 25, proposed at the Alton Road and West 27th Street location on the Miami Beach Golf Course, and voted to transmit recommendations to the City Commission asking for changes to screening, landscaping and construction traffic planning.

Martin Medina of Stantec Consulting and Morgan Gillis (Stantec) presented the project as part of the DOT/Alton Road corridor improvements. They described Pump Station 25 as a sanitary sewer lift station with a wet well, odor-control equipment (a Biogram treatment system), electrical equipment and a screened transformer. Medina said the project will elevate electrical equipment above the base flood elevation; "we are ensuring that our...equipment is raised at least 3 feet above the base flood elevation," the presentation noted.

Board members questioned fencing, shrub height, visibility from the bike lane and the frequency of maintenance visits. A board member asked whether shrubs would exceed the fence height; Stantec answered that contractors are required to install shrubs at mature height (specified as 10 feet) and that the fence would be 10 feet tall, with the top of control panels about 9 feet. The applicant said odor control technology has been used at other city stations with no reported complaints.

After extended discussion about making the planting less monolithic, adding variation and possibly small trees to break up a "wall" effect, the board moved and approved a recommendation motion asking the project team and staff to: revisit the landscape hedge to add species variation and trees where feasible; specify mature plantings at installation (Clusia specified in the plans); and consider traffic movement and maintenance access during construction. The board's recommendation is advisory; the final permitting and construction decisions remain with the City Commission and DOT.