‘I was shocked’: Formula One garage at Hard Rock Stadium built over public sewer main
When representatives for Hard Rock Stadium and the Miami Dolphins went to Miami-Dade County last year with their plan to build a garage and pit area for their Formula One racetrack, regulators said no way.
The problem? Officials said the structure was planned on top of a sewer main, meaning it would block access to pipes for any needed repairs and raise the specter of noxious gases seeping through manholes into the building.
They built it anyway.
County officials now say they were stunned to learn in December that construction outside the stadium’s north end was well underway, even after they had repeatedly told the team behind the United States’ second current Grand Prix they couldn’t approve the plan.
“I was like, ‘Wait a second, we’ve been talking about this for a long time,’” Carlos L. Hernandez, the head of the Miami-Dade Division of Environmental Resources Management’s waste and wastewater division, told the Miami Herald this week. “They had never relayed to me that they were building anything.”
The city of Miami Gardens, which had not yet issued a required building permit, ordered construction to stop.
But rather than demanding that the so-called “pit/paddock” building be torn down and relocated mere months before the race kicks off, county officials proposed a deal: The building could stay, they said, but only if the Miami Grand Prix paid a $45,000 penalty and committed to safety and monitoring measures, including the replacement of manhole covers with “gas tight lids.” By this summer, they would reroute the sewer main outside the building’s footprint.
A consent agreement was finalized Dec. 30. It was signed by Todd Boyan, the Dolphins’ senior vice president of stadium operations, on behalf of South Florida Motorsports LLC and South Florida Stadium LLC.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Hard Rock Stadium said there are “no concerns” about the arrangement and that “the project as a whole, including the sewer main relocation, is progressing smoothly as we work towards hosting this incredible global event for the first time.”
“Schedules in construction are always fluid and evolve based on a whole host of factors, including comments from permitting authorities,” the spokesperson said. “Yes, we paid a $45,000 fine for a technical violation that was quickly rectified and that will not affect the project or the event.”
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a statement that her administration is actively monitoring the situation, and that county staff is “doing their due diligence” to ensure the event is “following the proper rules and regulations to protect our community and our environment.”
But Miami Gardens residents who have raised concerns about anticipated pollution and noise from the Formula One event say it’s just the latest example of the Dolphins and owner Stephen Ross bulldozing their way through the process.
“Steve Ross just appears to be buying his way through this,” said former County Commissioner Betty Ferguson, who has spearheaded efforts against the F-1 plans. “If the pockets are deep enough, they seem to get away with ignoring rules and regulations that are put in place for others.”
‘I was shocked’
The first-ever Miami Grand Prix, part of a 10-year deal with Formula One, appears to be on track for May 6-8. In addition to negotiating with the county, Hard Rock Stadium got the green light from the city of North Miami Beach — which owns the public sewer utility — to reroute the sewer main.
Initially, the Grand Prix team had proposed privatizing part of the utility, saying rerouting it would be “physically impossible” due to “major utility conflicts along the way.” But county officials said they still wouldn’t approve it.
The city of Miami Gardens has also collected fines for the unpermitted work (the city wouldn’t immediately say how much) and granted a permit for construction to continue. A city spokesperson did not respond when asked if the city has already issued a required special events permit.
The deal between the county and Hard Rock Stadium has not been previously publicized. Sam Dubbin, an attorney who represented Miami Gardens residents in an unsuccessful lawsuit challenging the Formula One event, learned of the details through emails obtained in a public records request.
Dubbin said it was “disappointing but not surprising that the Dolphins ignored the law, and the county and city are going along.”
County officials told the Herald that, given how far along construction already was, the consent agreement was the best way to address safety concerns and reroute the sewer line as quickly as possible — rather than engaging in a protracted battle.
Still, Hernandez, the county waste and wastewater official, said it was a frustrating situation. In emails to the Miami Grand Prix team, he had underscored that building over a public sanitary sewer main line — a primary underground pipeline that collects wastewater from other connections — raises the risk of toxic gases getting into the building above and “significantly complicates” access to the sewer line for any needed repairs.
Hernandez, who spent 15 years in private design and construction before joining the county in the mid-2000s, said he had never before seen someone propose to build on top of a sewer main. He said that, while he’s not aware of any law directly prohibiting it, state codes say sewer mains must always be accessible for maintenance.
“It would never make sense to put a building on top of a main that has to be serviced and maintained,” Hernandez said. “I was shocked when it was first proposed and I remain shocked.”
John Hall, a civil engineer with nearly 50 years of experience designing water and sewer projects in Miami-Dade, added that county rules prevent the building of any structure over a sanitary sewer easement — even fences and light poles.
“A building goes way beyond a customary application of the rules,” he said.
Hall said a sewer main break, while unlikely, could conceivably cause sewage to back up into people’s homes and require access to the pipeline to fix it.
In a 15-page operation and maintenance plan submitted to the county, the Miami Grand Prix committed to closely monitoring the sewer system before, during and after the Formula One races and to immediately report any problems.
Overall, Hall said, it “looks like they have adequate safeguards in place until the sewer system can be rerouted.”
County officials said they plan to stand firm on the terms of the consent agreement and won’t allow any changes that would keep the sewer main under the pit/paddock building.
But they have already made one concession. Earlier this month, the county waived a $250-per-day late fee and granted a two-week extension on a permit application deadline, after the Dolphins said they were still waiting on required sign-offs from other agencies.
“We definitely have double standards operating here,” said Ferguson, the former county commissioner. “It’s upsetting.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 2:49 PM.
