ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
January 17, 1974
JOHN and
JAMES
GIBBS,
Petitioners
VS.
)
PCB 73—472
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
Louis R. Gentili, Attorney, on behalf of Petitioner;
Lee A. Campbell, Assistant Attorney General, on behalf of
the Environmental Protection Agency.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by Mr. Seaman):
On November 6, 1973, Messrs. John and James Gibbs,
residents of Highland Park, County of Lake, Illinois,
filed their Petition for Variance seeking permission for
a sewer connection tributary to the Clavey Road sewage
treatment plant of the North Shore Sanitary District.
The subject building is located in the Sunset Manor
Subdivision, Highland Park, Illinois, and is presently
served by a septic system. Said building houses Trans—World
Travel, Inc., which employs approximately fifteen (15)
persons.
Petitioners allege that the septic tank system serving
the commercial establishment is malfunctioning, particularly
after heavy rainfall, thereby causing inconvenience to not
only the fifteen (15) employees but also
to
their customers.
Petitioners indicate that their establishment1s washroom
facilities cannot be used for several days after a heavy
rainfall and that the odors emanating therefrom during that
period are most annoying and embarrassing. Employees and
customers are often required to use the toilet facilities
of a beauty parlor located next door to the subject premises,
which facilities are connected to a North Shore Sanitary District
sewer.
Petitioners have submitted a copy of a letter from the
Lake County Health Department advising Petitioner to seek
a hardship variance in order to connect to an existing sanitary
sewer. This recommendation was based upon an inspection by
10 —701
—2—
the Lake County Health Department which indicated that the
soil in Petitioner’s locale had been stripped and filled,
making it very unsuitable for septic tank systems.
The Pollution Control Board has granted variances
in cases such as the present one where a petitioner has
shown that a public health hazard exists in regard to the
operation of a septic system and this health hazard cannot
be eliminated through improved maintenance ‘r relatively
minor repairs of the system. (See e.g. Elsa J. Miller v.
Environmental Protection Agency, PCB 73-43; James Clark
v.
Environmental Protection Agency, PCB 73-37; Winsor v.
Environmental Protection Agency, PCB 71-334; and Robert J.
Bartell
v.
Environmental Protection Agency, PCB 72-382.)
Petitioners have adequately shown that the septic system
cannot be repaired so as to operate effectively and that the
present operation of the system constitutes a public health
hazard requiring immediate remedy.
This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and
conclusions of law of the Board.
ORDER
IT IS THE ORDER of the Pollution Control Board that
Petitioners, John and James Gibbs, be granted variance to
connect the commercial building located on Lot 10 in Sunset
Manor Subdivision,
Highland
Park, Illinois, to the existing
sanitary sewer tributary to the Clavey Road sewage treatment
plant of the North Shore Sanitar District.
The Board further orders that the North Shore Sanitary
District substract Petitioner~s population equivalent from the
total population equivalent granted to the District in
North Shore Sanitary District v. EPA, PCB 73-134.
iT IS SO ORDERED.
I, Christan L.
Moffett, Clerk of the
Illinois Pollution
Control Board, ce~tify that
~he
above Opinion and Order was
thUs
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