EMERGENCY GENERATORS INSTEAD OF EQCB

Board of County Commissioners · 2026-07-21 · ordinance

This is a Miami-Dade County ordinance (File Number 261214) amending the County Code to allow administrative approval of emergency generators for healthcare facilities and food stores within wellfield protection areas, instead of requiring a public hearing before the Environmental Quality Control Board (EQCB). The ordinance was adopted on first reading on 7/21/2026 and set for a public hearing before the Recreation, Tourism, and Resiliency Committee on 9/9/2026. The scope is countywide. The ordinance amends Sections 24-5, 24-18, and 24-43 of the Code of Miami-Dade County, Florida. It revises the definition of health care facilities, adds facilities with emergency generators within a wellfield protection area to the list of facilities requiring an operating permit, and allows fuels for emergency generators for health care facilities or food stores (required to maintain an alternate source of power pursuant to section 8B-17) within the basic wellfield protection area, subject to conditions including: property served by utility water and sanitary sewers, located more than 30 days travel time from any utility potable water supply well, not within the Northwest Wellfield protection area or West Wellfield Interim protection area, located within the Urban Development Boundary, fuels contained in an approved above-ground storage facility with double-walled tanks and piping, fuel volume limits (1,500 gallons for food stores; for health care facilities, volume required to comply with regulations), a groundwater monitoring plan for certain tanks, and an operating permit. The ordinance is sponsored by Juan Carlos Bermudez. The staff recommendation is approval. The fiscal impact is stated as no negative fiscal impact to the County. The ordinance is expected to benefit property owners and applicants by reducing development costs. A review of EQCB cases from 2020 to 2025 indicated approximately eight variances were granted related to emergency generators for healthcare facilities within wellfield protection areas. The document does not state any public comment or stakeholder sentiment.