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
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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