Miami-Dade is eliminating more dirty septic tanks. And it won’t cost taxpayers a dime
Miami-Dade’s quest to convert polluting septic tanks to county sewer lines before sea rise worsens the problem has found some unlikely allies — developers.
Dozens of property owners in the North MiamiDade area of Ojus banded together to convince the county to install massive new pipes and a pump station to help them connect to sewer — a move that also clears the way for expansive new development in the area.
The price tag: about $10 million for 107 properties. But the property owners agreed to foot the bill themselves, repaying the county over the next 30 years with a fee added to their annual tax bills.
The county plans to have all 107 septic tanks removed in the next 12 months.
“That’s a lot of — cough — that we’re keeping out of waterways,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told a crowd at Greynolds
Park on Wednesday to kick off the project.
“This will complete a community vision two decades in the making.”
It’s a novel approach for a county with 120,000 septic tanks left to dispose of, 9,000 of which are at risk of failing. As sea levels continue to rise, the groundwater starts to reach
the concrete boxes of human waste. That nowpolluted water then dirties Biscayne Bay, leading to fish kills, or spills into homes and yards.
With one additional foot of sea rise, expected by about 2040, the number of tanks at risk of failing jumps to 13,500.
The county’s best estimate
is north of $3 billion to convert all of its tanks, and that doesn’t include commercial properties or the share that property owners will have to pay. The $10 million bond for the Ojus project, paid entirely by property owners, doesn’t include the cost to connect individual properties, which can be around
$10,000 per lot.
“We’re working on federal grants, we’re working on state grants, relentlessly. Every source we can find,” said Levine Cava. “If we don’t keep our waterways clean, we’re doomed.”
But for this specific project, county taxpayers won’t be footing the bill.
“Not one penny,” said
Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Director Roy Coley.
NEW DEVELOPMENT AHEAD
The area’s sewage-pump station was too small to handle much additional development, but with the new capacity upgrade and additional pipes included in this project, Miami-Dade County Commissioner
Sally Heyman said development can be “unchained.”
Heyman grew up in Ojus, which she now represents.
For developers, it’s a small cost that unlocks larger — and more profitable — projects. It could also bring new housing, although it’s unclear if that includes affordable or workforce housing.
Gustavo Lumer, head of Lumer Real Estate and a property owner in Ojus, said this project will allow development of 700 new residential units and 40 new businesses in the area.
“It’s a dream coming true,” he told the crowd.
Lumer, along with other business owners, approached Commissioner Heyman a few years back with the idea to fund the upgrade themselves by creating a “special benefit area.”