Broward won’t be able to grow its semi-iconic trash heap as easily as it has in the past under legislation Gov. Ron DeSantis recently approved.
DeSantis has signed HB 4039, which creates new procedural requirements before the county can approve any expansion of the Monarch Hill Landfill — known colloquially as Mount Trashmore.
Under the new law, Broward must first commission an independent feasibility study evaluating environmental, public health, groundwater, traffic, odor, noise and cumulative impacts, while analyzing alternatives such as waste-to-energy technology.
At least one public hearing, complete with a presentation of the study’s findings, must be held within five miles of the landfill, with 30 days’ public notice and with direct notice given to nearby property owners.
No zoning change, permit, development order or other approval for an expansion may advance until both the study and hearing have been completed and publicly disclosed.
The measure, which Coral Springs Democratic Rep. Dan Daley filed and carried to passage without a Senate companion — a legislative rarity — came in response to Broward’s highly contentious February 2025 vote to expand the Monarch Hill Landfill, despite fierce opposition from residents of Coconut Creek and Deerfield Beach.
Broward Commissioners approved plans after months of deferrals, allowing the landfill to expand 24 acres horizontally and 100 feet vertically, roughly doubling its footprint.
Supporters contended that the county needed more disposal capacity. Opponents, meanwhile, argued the county should have waited for the completion of its regional solid-waste master plan before making such a consequential decision.
Daley, incoming House Democratic Leader Christine Hunschofsky and Oakland Park Democratic Rep. Mitch Rosenwald, who cosponsored HB 4039, appeared before the County Commission urging it to postpone the vote.
After the Commission proceeded anyway, voting 5-3 in favor — with Vice Mayor Mark Bogen and Commissioners Lamar Fisher and Alexandra Davis voting “no” — Daley filed HB 4039.
“This ultimately serves as an additional scan of this particular Solid Waste Disposal Facility in Broward County,” he said in a statement while filing the bill, which passed unanimously in both chambers of the Legislature.
It wasn’t Daley’s first attempt. During the 2025 Session, he worked to add language to another bill to implement HB 4039’s changes. That related measure, which focused on a waste-to-energy facility in neighboring Miami-Dade County, ultimately stalled, prompting this year’s stand-alone bill.
“If the County is serious about pursuing one of the least environmentally friendly options available — landfilling,” he wrote on Facebook last May, “they should at least take the time to ensure no better alternatives exist.”
HB 4039, which DeSantis signed Friday, is effective Oct. 1.
