FORT PIERCE – Fort Pierce City Commission candidate Jaimebeth Galinis said Tuesday her first action if she’s elected will be to “establish strict, maximum weight limits on the key roads leading to and from the Fort Pierce rail yard.”
Galinis said she believes restricting truck tonnage on Georgia Avenue, Sunrise Boulevard, Hayes Street and South 3rd Street could “effectively prevent the heavy dump trucks connected to the Miami-Dade trash train operation from using Fort Pierce as their transfer point.”
“If the loads are too heavy for our roads, they’re too heavy for our city,” Galinis said in a statement released Tuesday.
It’s unclear what authority the city may have in setting weight limits for streets located within its boundaries. But Galinis said her proposed ordinance would authorize enforcement and violation penalties, including “fines, permit suspensions and increased fees for violators.”
After a fire destroyed a Miami-Dade County waste incinerator, that county, Waste Management and Florida East Coast Railway formed a plan to transport refuse via covered railcar to a transfer station in downtown Fort Pierce. Here the railcars are off-loaded to trucks that haul that waste to the Okeechobee Landfill, then bring back the empty train cars to Fort Pierce to return to Miami.
The 10-year contract, inked in 2024, has resulted in an average 2,500 tons of garbage a day being transported from Miami-Dade to the Fort Pierce rail transfer station six days a week.
Residents in the surrounding area have lodged numerous complaints of noxious odor, an abundance of flies and an increased rodent population created by the trash trains and debris left on property surrounding the rail line.
The City of Fort Pierce has called on Congressman Brian Mast, R-Fort Pierce, for assistance and it ordered the railroad to clean up debris or face fines.
Florida East Coast Railway responded by filing a lawsuit against the city, claiming the city’s action violates federal law.
Galinis said her proposed ordinance also would “mandate ongoing monitoring and data reporting on truck traffic and road wear.”
“Fort Pierce should not be the dumping ground for other counties’ garbage,” Galinis said. “This motion ensures we take immediate, lawful steps to protect our neighborhoods, infrastructure and reclaim our community’s dignity.”
Galinis is one of three candidates running in the Nov. 4 special election primary to fill a vacant District 2 seat on the Fort Pierce City Commission. Also on the non-partisan ballot are Donna Benton and Chris Dzadovsky.
If one of the three candidates garners at least 50 percent plus 1 vote Nov. 4, they will win the seat. Otherwise, the top two vote-getters will advance to a Jan. 13 runoff election.