Medley, in lawsuit, accuses cement plant of polluting Miami River

The Town of Medley says it has concrete evidence that a cement factory on the west side of town has run afoul of its groundwater pollution code.

“Irreparable harm has occurred and will continue to occur to the Town and its infrastructure, including roads and stormwater and sewer systems and the community waterways (including the Miami Canal and the Miami River) if the activity at the property is not enjoined,” Medley’s town attorney Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman wrote in a 25-page complaint filed last October in Miami-Dade Circuit Court against Polimix USA LLC.

Medley is a 4.3-square-mile town of trailer parks and heavy industry that sits north of Doral, and Polimix runs a cement plant at 11750 NW South River Dr. The company has not yet filed an answer to Medley’s complaint, according to court records.

A court-listed attorney for Polimix did not respond to an emailed request for comment from the Herald.

Polimix is one of Brazil’s largest concrete service providers, where it has 185 locations, the company’s website claims. Its history in the United States started in 2015 when it “bought a concrete company from Medley,” the company says. “Since then, we have been writing our story every day.”

However, Medley does not seem to like Polimix’s story and town officials have spent five years mixing it up with the cement plant over wastewater discharge.

Medley has placed a $90,475 “code compliance” lien on the company’s property and has also levied daily code enforcement fines of $200 against Polimix since July 28, 2020, court filings show. As of Thursday, the town’s lien and fines against the company total $205,675.

“Even the existence of a lien, securing a daily fine, has not persuaded Polimix to resolve the code violations and/or nuisances,” Medley wrote in its complaint.

Last October, a Miami-Dade judge issued an order that has “immediately enjoined” Polimix from operating at the property after Medley filed an emergency motion seeking an injunction. An injunction is an order that requires a person or organization to refrain from a particular act.

“That the nuisances resulting from the [Polimix’s] property directly affect the municipal and county stormwater and sewer systems, roads, public infrastructure and waterways, presenting increased danger to the community,” the Miami-Dade court order said.

Medley officials filed exhibits with the court that included photos of Polimix’s “on-site discharge” and “videos of discharge.”

“You can see the runoff from the plant right there going into the Miami River; it is nonstop,” an unidentified person says in a video.

Polimix’s website links to one material safety data sheet for a product called “Laticrete Supercap SC500.” Among the identified health hazards on the sheet are “serious eye damage/eye irritation.” The hazard statement on the sheet also says that the substance “may also cause cancer.”

The data sheet states that waste from the product’s residues must be disposed of in accordance with local regulations.

It remains unclear how much concrete washout, since 2017, has made its way into the nearby Miami river. Downstream, Medley expects to open its new swim center in April where its town library once stood. The pool will hug the river along the 7900 block of Northwest South River Drive.

Further south, the river feeds into popular fishing, boating, and tiki-hut picnic areas in neighboring Miami Springs, which kicks off its annual River Cities festival on March 4.

Meanwhile, Polimix remains open for business, according to an employee who answered the phone Wednesday at the company’s Medley office.

A case management hearing was held on Feb. 9, and a mediation deadline has been set for Aug. 3. If the case proceeds to trial, it will take place in October, the court schedule states.

Medley Mayor Roberto Martell did not respond to an emailed request by the Herald seeking comment.

Theo Karantsalis can be reached at karantsalis@bellsouth.net.

Theo Karantsalis can be reached at karantsalis@bellsouth.net.