Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory Compliance

The Environmental Division works closely across city departments to ensure our community and government operations are in compliance with local, state and federal environmental regulations. Division staff ensures private and public operations are properly permitted and oversees these operations to ensure their compliance with permit conditions through regular inspections.

Construction Inspections

The Environmental Division reviews public and private construction plans as part of the Building permit process to ensure these projects obtain the proper permits prior to construction. During construction, staff assesses the environmental conditions in the field to ensure they are in regulatory compliance. The Environmental Technician proactively review construction sites for potential environmental issues, such as improper sediment and erosion controls or unpermitted dewatering operations, so they can be prevented before making impacts to the environment. They also respond quickly to reports of non-compliance and work with the City Code Compliance Department and Miami-Dade County’s Environmental Compliance teams to ensure violations are issued where appropriate.

Grease Inspections

While Miami-Dade County is responsible for regulating grease discharges, the City is responsible for operating and servicing the sanitary sewer system to protect public health and safety, as well as to ensure it is in compliance with all federal, state, and local regulations. The City’s Public Works Department responds to and addresses grease blockages in the sanitary sewer system and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) caused by grease. Miami Beach presents a unique challenge for grease trap enforcement. Restaurants are highly concentrated in popular areas of the City, such as Ocean Drive, Lincoln Road, Sunset Harbour, and Española Way, which makes these areas vulnerable to grease trap maintenance and sanitary sewer overflow problems. Furthermore, the volume of potential sources of discharge makes it difficult to discern the source of non-compliant discharges into the public sanitary sewer system.

The City’s Grease Inspector reviews all plumbing plans for potential grease generating facilities (food service establishments) to ensure they have a grease trap that is properly sized and permitted. The Grease Inspector also works with Miami-Dade County’s grease program to inspect grease generating facilities, to ensure their compliance, and to resolve grease violations.