ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOA1W
March
25, 1976
WILCO AREA CAREER CENTER,
)
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 75—173
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr.
Zeitlin):
This matter
is before the Board on a Petition for Variance
filed April
25,
1975, by the WILCO Area Career Center
(WILCO),
a Will County,
Illinois municipal educational corporation, and
amendments or other documents pertaining thereto filed on
June 17,
1975,
October
2,
1975,
and January 16,
1976.
No hearing
was held in this matter.
A Recommendation
was
received from the
Environmental Protection Agency
(Agency)
on July 14,
1975.
WILCO was formed by five Will County school districts to
consolidate and improve the trade and occupational education
offered by those districts.
WILCO has purchased a 20—acre site
from Lewis University,
adjacent to the University’s Will County
campus.
The facility planned for that site has been under
construction for some time, and is now 85 per cent complete.
Initial occupancy is expected within two months, and classes are
scheduled to commence on July 12,
1976.
Total expenditures for
the facility will amount to $4,500,000,
to be financed largely
by the Illinois Capital Improvement Board.
(See January 16,
1976
Amended Petition.)
The original Petition in this matter, and all its amendments,
seek permission for the new WILCO center to connect its sanitary
sewers to the Lewis University sewage treatment plant,
located on
property adjacent to the new center’s site.
Petitioner estimates
that the WILCO center will generate approximately
600
gallons of
effluent each school day,
or 3,000 gallons per week.
20—
325
—2—
This estimate
is based on a total student population of 900
students, composed of three 300—student
shifts, each of which will
be present in the school for two and a half hours daily.
The school
will have no kitchen or shower facilities.
WILCO needs a variance
from Rule 962 of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution,
of the Board’s Rules
and Regulations in order to connect the new facility to the Lewis
University sewage treatment plant,
because that sewage treatment
plant does not currently meet the applicable effluent regulations
under Rule
404(f) of Chapter
3.
WILCO’s inaccurate request for Variance from Section 12(a)
of
the Environmental Protection Act and Rule 404(f)
of Chapter
3
is
noted
in the Agency’s Recommendation;
we shall,
as is
suggested
in
the Agency Recommendation,
interpret WILCO’s request as being for
a
variance from the applicable provision
--
Rule 962.
We concur with the Agency’s Recommendation,
and find that
a
denial of this variance would indeed work a considerable hardship on
Petitioner.
The Petition, and its various supplements, do show
adequately that the center will provide
a necessary supplement to
the education provided by the five concerned school districts.
In
addition, the expenditures to date by those districts, and by the
Capital Improvement Board, have been considerable.
In deciding to grant this variance, we have weighed that hard-
ship against the likelihood of environmental damage.
We take note
of our decision today in Lewis University
v.
EPA, PCB 75-504, and
find that the likelihood of environmental damage from a connection
to the Lewis University sewage treatment system would be minimal.
The compliance plan in PCB 75-504
(connection to the Village of
Romeoville’s sewage treatment plant) will provide an adequate com-
pliance plan in this case as well:
by the end of 1976,
WILCO’s
wastes will be routed through Lewis University to the Village of
Romeoville’s sewage treatment plant.
Weighing the hardship to the school districts involved, and
to the students served by those districts,
if the Variance were not
granted, against the likelihood of environmental damage likely to
occur if it is granted, we find that the grant of a Variance is
warranted here.
This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and conclusions
of law of the Board in this matter.
20 —326
—3—
ORDER
IT IS THE ORDER OF THE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD that Petitioner
WILCO Area Career Center be granted a Variance from Rule 962
of
Chapter
3: Water Pollution,
of the Pollution Control Board Rules
and Regulations,
to allow a sanitary sewage connection to the sewage
treatment plant operated by Lewis University.
Mr. James Young abstained.
I, Christan L. Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were
adopted on the
~S~’
day of
_________,
1976, by a vote of
~3—tj~
C ristan
L. Mo Let
,
rk
Illinois Pollution
rol Board
20— 327