IL~TNOIS
    POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    July
    31, 1975
    HOUSING AUTHORITY CF THE
    CITY OF NORTH CHICAGO,
    Petitioner,
    V.
    )
    PCB 75—153
    ENVIRONMENTAL PRCTECTION AGENCY,
    Resp~rident.
    Mr. Raymond M. Carison, appeared on behalf of the petitioner;
    Mr. John
    T.
    Bernbom, appeared on behalf of respondent.
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (by Mr. Dumelle):
    Petitioner, housing Authority of the City of North
    Chicago
    (hereinafter “Authority”)
    filed a petition for
    variance on April
    11;
    1975.
    The petition requests relief
    from a sewer ban .im~osedby the Board in League of Women Voters
    vs. North Shore Sanitary District,
    PCB 70-7, IPCB 369
    (March
    31,
    1971),
    in order to connect a 102 unit home for the
    elderly to the North Shore Sanitary District’s
    (hereinafter
    “NSSD”) North Chicau~Sewage Treatment Plant.
    The proposed
    facility is to be
    located at 15th Street and Jackson, North
    Chicago,
    Illinois.
    On April
    24,
    1375, the Board held the Authority’s
    petition inadequate because
    it did not disclose the date on
    which the home was expected to be completed and connected,
    nor the date on which the new Gurnee Sewage Treatment Plant
    is expected to be on
    line.
    On May 21, 1975 the Authority
    filed
    an amended petition which indicated that foundation
    walls should be ready for hook-up about September
    1, 1975,
    and that the Gurnee plant will be completed by October
    1,
    1975.
    The amended petition extended the statutory ninety
    day period required
    for decision.
    On the same day
    a citizen
    objection
    to the v~iriancepetition was filed.
    On June
    23,
    975 the Environmental Protection Agency
    (hereinafter “Agency”)
    filed
    its Recommendation,
    together
    with
    a Motion for Decision Without Hearing.
    The Board
    denied the motion on June
    26 since the citizen objection had
    rendered a hearing mandatory.
    The Agency Reco~rinendationin favor of the variance,
    indicated that the North Chicago Plant has
    a design average
    flow of
    3.35 MGD and a maximum flow capacity of 7.5 MGD.
    Monthly reports show that the plant effluent does not consistently
    meet the prescribed parameters for BOD,
    suspended solids
    18— 265
    —2—
    and phosphorus.
    ffluent discharge is presently into Lake
    Michigan.
    Upon completion of the Gurnee plant, the North
    Chicago Plant will provide only primary treatment, whereupon
    effluent would then
    be diverted to Gurnee for final treatment
    and all discharges
    to the Lake will cease.
    A public hearing was held in North Chicago on July 15,
    1975.
    The executive director for the Authority testified
    that there was a great need for apartments for the elderly
    in the community,
    and that the proposed facility would
    include one hundred one-bedroom and two two—bedroom apartments.
    She further test~fied that, based on
    a successful variance
    petition and approtial from the Department of Housing and
    Urban Development,
    construction could begin the last week
    in
    July,
    1975,
    and be completed in twelve months.
    The Agency
    agreed that by tht~time this facility
    is completed,
    the
    sewage generated ry it could be diverted to the new Gurnee
    plant,
    thus causing no environmental damage.
    William J. Owen, who had filed the citizen objection to
    the petition,
    testified that no sewer hook-up should be al-
    lowed in North Chic.igo while there
    is
    a sewer ban in effect.
    The Board
    is of the opinion that the requested variance
    should be grantee in the instant case.
    It is clear from the
    record that the housing facility will not be completed and
    ready for connection until next summer.
    By that time the
    Gurnee plant shou1d be on line to receive the North Chicago
    effluent.
    There is thus little likelihood of environmental
    detriment
    in allowing this variance.
    The record further
    shows that there is
    a demonstrated need for this type of
    facility in this community.
    We find that it would result in
    an unnecessary hards~’ipto deny this variance and thus
    prevent or delay the project’s construction.
    This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact
    and conclusions
    of
    law.
    ORDER
    Petitioner, Housing Authority of North Chicago,
    is
    hereby granted
    a variance from the sewer ban imposed in
    North Chicago in order to connect its home for the elderly
    facility to the North Chicago Sewage Treatment Plant.
    IT
    IS SO ORDERED.
    I,
    Christan
    1. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
    Control Board hereby certify that the above Opinion and
    Ord r were adopted on the
    ~
    day of July,
    1975 by a vote
    of
    -
    ~
    rk
    —
    Illinois Pollut
    Control Board
    18
    —
    266

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