ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

March 24, 1988

C.S.

NORCROSS,

INC.,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 87—206

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

INTERIM ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by J.D.

Dumelle):

This matter arises on

a petition

for variance filed December

22,

1987 and an amended petition filed January 15,

1988

requesting

a hearing

in this matter.

Section 37

of the

Environmental Protection Act

(Act)

states:

a.

Any person

seeking

a

variance pursuant

to subsection

(a)

of Section 35 shall do

so

by

filing

a

petition

for

variance

with

the

Board

and

the

Agency.

The

Agency

shall

promptly

give

written

notice of such petition to any person

in

the county

in

which

the installation

or

property for which variance

is sought

is

located

who

has

in

writing

requested

notice

of

variance

petitions,

the

State’s

attorney

of

such

county,

the

Chairman

of

the

County

Board

of

such

county,

and

to

each

member

of

the

General

Assembly

from

the

legislative

district

in

which

that

installation

or

property

is

located,

and

shall

publish

notice

of

such petition

in

a

newspaper

of

general

circulation

in

such

county.

The

notices

required

by

this

Section

shall

include

the street address,

and

if

there

is

no

street

address

then

the

legal

description

or

the

location with

reference

to

any

well

known

landmark,

highway,

road,

thoroughfare

or

intersection.

The

Agency

shall

promptly

investigate

such petition

and consider

the views

of

persons

who might

be

adversely

affected

87—197

---

—2—

by

the grant

of

a variance.

The Agency

shall make

a recommendation

to

the Board

as

to

the

disposition

of

the

petition.

If

the

Board,

in

its

discretion,

concludes

that

a

hearing

would

be

advisable,

or

if the Agency or any other

person files

a written

objection

to

the

grant

of

such

variance

within

21

days,

then

a hearing

shall

be

held,

under the

rules

prescribed

in

Sections

32

and

33(a)

of

this

Act,

and

the

burden

of

proof shall

be on the petitioner.

On March 14,

1988 the Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency

(Agency) filed

an “Agency Statement”

which states that

because

its Noise Division has been discontinued, the Agency has

been unable

to conduct

a

formal investigation and therefore

to

make

a formal recommendation on the variance petition.

However,

the Agency states

it has published newspaper notice

to inform

local

citizens and

to solicit comment.

The Agency received one

response inquiring

as

to the hearing date and “to insure that the

company was held

to the representations

in

its petition.”

The

Agency states “based

on the apparent support of citizens

to the

petition and the representations made by the Company in

its

petition,

the Agency has no objection

to the grant of this

variance.”

The Board construes the Agency filing, although entitled

“Agency Statement”, as the Agency’s recommendation as

to the

disposition of the petition.

In addition,

the Board notes that,

pursuant to Section

35 of the Act,

the Board may grant

a variance

only upon presentation of adequate proof that compliance with any

rule or

regulation would

impose

an arbitrary or

unreasonable

hardship.

IT

IS SO ORDERED.

I,

Dorothy M.

Gunn,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certify that the above Interim Order was adopted

on

the

c~.~/tt~ day of ~‘Z~L~_4.L’

,

1988 by

a vote

of

-0

.

~.

Dorothy M.

unn,

Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

87—198