§ 24-8. Environmental Quality Control Board.

A Miami-Dade County Environmental Quality Control Board is hereby created and established, consisting of five (5) members appointed by the County Commission.

(1)

Qualifications of members. Members of the Board shall be residents of Miami-Dade County who possess outstanding reputations for civic pride, interest, integrity, responsibility and business or professional ability. Appointments shall be made by the Board of County Commissioners on the basis of experience or interest in the field of air and water pollution. The composition and representative membership of the Board shall be as follows:

(a)

Two (2) members shall be scientists possessing Ph.D. degrees in biology.

(b)

One member shall be a scientist possessing a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry.

(c)

Two (2) members shall be professional engineers with experience in the field of sanitary engineering, who may be recommended by the Miami Chapter of the Florida Engineering Society.

(2)

Terms of office. In order that the terms of office of all members of the Board shall not expire at the same time, the initial appointments to the Board shall be as follows: Two (2) members shall be appointed for the term of one (1) year, two (2) members shall be appointed for the term of two (2) years, and one (1) member shall be appointed for the term of three (3) years. Thereafter all appointments shall be made for the term of three (3) years. Appointments to fill any vacancy on the Board shall be for the remainder of the unexpired term of office. A member may be removed with or without cause by the affirmative vote of not less than a majority of the entire County Commission. Should any member of the Board fail to attend three (3) consecutive meetings without due cause, the Chairman shall certify the same to the County Commission. Upon such certification, the member shall be deemed to have been removed and the County Commission shall fill the vacancy by appointment.

(3)

Organization of the Board; quorum; Secretary; compensation of members; meetings; personnel. The members of the Board shall elect a Chairperson and such other officers as may be deemed necessary or desirable, who shall serve at the will of the Board. A majority vote of the entire membership of the Board shall be necessary to take any action. Three (3) members of the Board shall constitute a quorum necessary to hold a meeting and take any action, except that the affirmative vote of four (4) members of the Board shall be required to grant variances and extensions of time for compliance with the requirements of this chapter for new or existing facilities, equipment, and processes or classes thereof, within the Northwest Wellfield protection area or within the West Wellfield Interim protection area. The Director shall be secretary of the Board and shall be responsible for the custody of all minutes and records of the Board, but shall not be entitled to vote on any matter before the Board. Members shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their official duties, upon approval by the Board of County Commissioners. The Chairperson may call meetings of the Board, and the Board at any meeting may fix and call a meeting on a future date. Minutes shall be kept of all meetings of the Board. All meetings shall be public. The County Manager shall provide adequate and competent clerical administrative personnel as may be reasonably required by the Board for the proper performance of its duties, subject to budget limitations.

(4)

Technical advisory panel. The Board may designate from time to time one (1) or more citizens of the community to sit as one (1) or more technical advisory panels. The members of such panels shall be persons technically skilled and qualified to render advice on particular matters of pollution control then before the Board. The members shall serve at the will of the Board and shall furnish advice and information of a technical nature to the Board for so long a period of time as the Board may request it. All such advice and information given by the panel or any member thereof shall be in the form of testimony before the Board at a regularly scheduled meeting and subject to cross examination by any interested party. The members of the panels shall not be deemed County officers or employees within the purview of Sections 2-10.2, 2-11.1, or otherwise.

(5)

Duties and powers of the Environmental Quality Control Board. The Environmental Quality Control Board shall have the following duties, functions, powers and responsibilities:

(a)

To hear appeals by any person aggrieved by any action or decision of the Director as provided in Section 24-11.

(b)

To hear and pass upon all applications for variances and extensions of time in the manner provided by Sections 24-13 and 24-14, except for compliance with the regulations set forth in Section 24-25, adoption of rules and regulations of the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Department of Health, or the United States Environmental Protection Agency or their successor departments and agencies, or applicable federal or state binding agreement.

(c)

To hear and pass upon all applications for extension of time for compliance with the provisions of this chapter. All such applications shall be filed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and shall be heard and considered by the Environmental Quality Control Board at a public hearing pursuant to notice. In considering such applications, the Board shall take into account such factors as practicability, availability of equipment, and relative benefits to the community. The Board shall not have the power and authority to grant any application for extension of time to comply with the prohibitions against open burning (Section 24-41.4), or the prohibitions against reduction of animal matter (Section 24-41.8), or the prohibitions against a nuisance (Section 24-27), or the prohibitions against the discharge of cyanides or other toxic chemicals into the waters in excess of the standards set forth in Section 24-42(3). Applications for extension of time for compliance shall be considered on the basis of public interest and not merely on economic benefit to the applicant; applications shall be granted only when it is established that the requested extension of time for compliance will not be detrimental to the public health, welfare and safety, and will not create or permit the continuation of a nuisance, or that no technically feasible, economically reasonable means of compliance are readily available to the applicant. The Board shall not have the power and authority to grant extensions of time for compliance with the regulations set forth in Section 24-25, Adoption of rules and regulations of the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Department of Health, or the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or applicable federal or state binding agreement. Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Environmental Quality Control Board shall be entitled to judicial review in accordance with the Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure.

(d)

To hear and pass upon all applications pursuant to Section 24-15 for approval of interim package sewage treatment plants. In considering such applications the Board shall take into account such factors as the public interest, compliance with the technical requirements of this chapter, factors of practicability and availability of equipment, alternative methods of sewage disposal and the likelihood of creating a present or future nuisance. If the Board approves such application it shall direct the Director to issue the Director's approval subject to any reasonable conditions that the Board finds to be in the public interest. Provided, however, that no action on the application shall be taken by the Board until a public hearing has been held upon at least ten (10) days notice of the time and place of such hearing published in a newspaper of general circulation in Miami-Dade County.

(e)

To provide additional notice to the public, property that may be affected by the application shall be posted in a manner as shall provide notice of the purpose, time and place of such hearing. Failure to post such property shall not affect any action taken by the Board. Provided, however, that the Board may, upon application of any city or any governmental water and sewer authority existing on the effective date of this subsection and chartered pursuant to State law, waive the requirement for a public hearing on interim package sewage treatment plant applications where such proposed plant is to be located within a city that requires by law a public hearing before granting approval of such a plant where such applications are considered under standards equal to or stricter than those provided by Chapter 24 of the Code of Miami-Dade County, as amended from time to time.

(f)

To hear and pass upon applications by private and/or public water or sewer utilities for a statement of approved water quality or approved sewage service filed pursuant to the requirements of Section 24-15 of the Code.

(g)

To issue subpoena to compel the presence of a witness or documents at any hearing authorized above, such subpoenas to be issued by the Chairman of the Board and enforced pursuant to the provisions of Section 24-9 of this chapter.

(h)

To review decisions of the Miami-Dade County Fire Department or other Fire Department having jurisdiction, pursuant to Section 2-103.23 of the Code.

(i)

The powers enumerated in this section shall be an addition to and not a limitation of any other power specifically granted to the Environmental Quality Control Board by any other provision of this chapter.

(Ord. No. 04-214, §§ 1, 5, 12-2-04; Ord. No. 08-55, § 2, 5-6-08; Ord. No. 18-22, § 2, 2-21-18)