Updated: Florida landfill expansion vote deferred

Editors' note: This story has been updated from a previous version to reflect the Broward County Commission meeting Tuesday, Jan. 28.

The Broward County Commission in Broward County, Florida, voted to defer a series of proposals that would expand the Monarch Hill Landfill in Pompano Beach, Florida, operated by Houston-based WM, WLRN reports.

The proposals would allow for the height of the landfill to increase to 325 feet, an increase of 100 feet, and for its horizontal footprint to be expanded by almost 25 acres. WM says the site has only about six years of use left at its current size. The company says the sooner the expansion, the better.

At a meeting Jan. 28, the vote was deferred until the commission meets again Feb. 25.

The county’s Solid Waste Authority, an intergovernmental group composed of representatives from Broward’s municipalities, had asked for the vote to be deferred until it finishes a Regional Solid Waste Management and Recycling Master Plan.

If the county agrees to the expansion proposals, WM says it will make a number of concessions, most crucially that it will use the landfill only for construction and debris waste moving forward, eliminating the organic matter that could cause noxious smells.

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The organic matter would be shipped to WM’s landfill in Okeechobee, Florida, where it has agreed to either compost or use methane-capture to lessen the county’s emissions.

Members of the Solid Waste Authority say they worry that if the expansion is approved, it will limit the plan’s effectiveness and take future options off the table.

“We’re asking the county to put a pause on this, not to vote it down, but rather to table the matter as being premature so we can have a discussion,” says Mike Ryan, chair of the Solid Waste Authority executive committee. “In the last 60 years, there’s never been this broad public discussion with all of the stakeholders at the table, and we only get one chance to really get this right.”

Broward County produces more than 9 million pounds of waste each year, according to the report.