ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    June 26, 1975
    MR. AND MRS. OWEN BULLS,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    )
    PCB 75—147
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by Mr. Dumelle):
    Petition for variance from a sewer ban was filed on
    April 4, 1975. The Bulls family owns a lot at 2803 Blanchard
    Road in Waukegan and desires to build a house upon it.
    The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency filed its
    Recommendation on May 9, 1975. No public hearing was held.
    This identical cause was before the Board in PCB 74-305 and
    was denied without prejudice on November 22, 1974. Unfortunately,
    the record in the prior case was not stipulated into this
    case and cannot be used.
    The Agency~s Recommendation gives the family’s size as
    five; the annual income (in September, l974) as $6.79 per
    hour plus overtime; and refers to the condemned housing in
    which they now live, also in Waukegan.
    The Agency points out that the Judge Avenue Sewer, into
    which their proposed new home would discharge, “remains
    subject to backups and continues to pose a potenti~alpublic
    health hazard” (Rec. p. 5). The testimony in a prior case
    is quoted by the Agency in which two cases of shigella and
    hepatitis occurred in the area, possibly attributable to
    basement backups.
    Nothing new appears in this case from the prior proceeding,
    PCB
    74-303, according to the Agency and it recommends denial,
    relying upon the previous Board weighing of the factors.
    The ultimate solution must come by an upgrading of the Judge
    Avenue Sewer but correction is not expected until 1978 at
    the earliest.
    The Petitioner has not investigated the possible use of
    site holding tanks. No list is given of housing possibilities
    explored and the rents requested so that the Board can judge
    their suitability in light of the Bulls’ income.
    ~7~-423
    —2—
    We do not lightly deny this request for a second time.
    We urge the Petitioners to seek suitable substitute housing
    immediately and to investigate site holding tanks. To grant
    this variance would be to subject other persons on this
    critical sewer to additional basement flooding and disease
    hazards.
    This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact
    and conclusions of law.
    Mr. Zeitlin dissents
    ORDER
    The Petition for Variance is denied without prejudice.
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board,,~herebycertify the above Opinion and Order were adopted on the
    ~
    day of June, 1975 by a vote of
    3—~
    Illinois Pollution
    1 Board
    17
    —
    424

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