ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    June 28, 1977
    CITY OF PONTIAC and PONTIAC REALTY,
    )
    INC.,
    Petitioners,
    )
    )
    v.
    )
    PCB 76—250
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    Respondent.
    MR.JOHN A. BEYER OF SATTLER, EWING & BEYER, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF
    PETITIONER;
    MR. JOSEPH E. SVOBODA, ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    APPEARED ON BEHALF OF RESPONDENT.
    OPINION AND
    ORDER OF THE
    BOARD (by Mr. Dumelle):
    This matter
    conies
    before
    the Board on a Petition for a Variance
    from Sections 12 and 39 of the Environmental Protection Act and Rule
    962(a), Chapter 3: Water Pollution of the Board’s Rules and Regula-
    tions to allow connection and operation of a sanitary sewer presently
    serving two eight unit condominiums.
    On December 15, 1975 Petitioner applied for a “construct only”
    permit to install this sewer extension.
    At that time the projected
    date for completion of the improvements of the overloaded Pontiac
    Sewage Treatment Plant was September, 1976.
    This permit was issued
    by the Agency on the condition that no permit to operate this sanitary
    sewer would be issued until the treatment plant improvements were
    completed.
    Petitioner applied for a Variance to connect the sanitary sewer
    line while the treatment plant improvements were still underway.
    The
    Agency filed its Recommendation, pursuant to Rule 405 of the Board’s
    Procedural Rules, that the Variance be denied.
    A hearing was held on
    March 1, 1977.
    26
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    35
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    Petitioners feel that they are being forced to suffer an arbitrary
    and unreasonable hardship because:
    1.
    Possession of the condominium units
    is being held up
    and the
    purchasers are being forced to live in motels at
    the developer’s expense,
    2.
    The developer is forced to make more interest payments
    because the units cannot be occupied, and
    3.
    A housing shortage exists in Pontiac and connecting these
    units could help to relieve that shortage.
    The only evidence of motel payments by the developer is in an
    affidavit that’was attached to the Petition for Variance.
    That aff i-
    davit stated that as of October 1, 1976, one couple and two single
    persons were being accommodated at the developer’s expense.
    At the
    hearing it was disclosed that six of the condominium units were
    occupied as of March 1, 1977.
    There was no evidence at that time
    thathardshipany ofwasthebeingpurchaserssuffered werein
    disposingbeing
    housedof
    thein domesticmotels,
    orwastethat
    fromany1
    the purchasers who had moved in.
    The housing shortage and the developer’s construction and
    interest expenses were not controverted at the hearing, however it
    was established that the chief reason for the housing shortage was
    the inability of the Pontiac Sewage Treatment Plant to take effluents
    from any new construction.
    Petitioners claimed that granting this variance would not cause
    any additional loading on the City’s sewer system because most of the
    purchasers who would be moving in were Pontiac residents.
    Their argu-
    ment was that these people would either be living in their own homes
    or in Pontiac motels if they were not allowed to move in. The logic
    of this reasoning fails when it is related to the Petitioners’
    argument that the condominiums should be connected to help
    relieve
    the housing shortage and allow the purchasers to sell their homes
    to others.
    Throughout the hearing, Petitioners showed that possession of
    these condominium units was contingent upon completion of the
    im-
    provements to the Pontiac Sewage Treatment Plant. At the time of
    the hearing, the projected date for completion was May 15, 1977.
    The issue may be moot. Throughout the record there is nothing to
    show that the Petitioners’ hardship was anything but self-imposed.
    Construction was undertaken, units were sold, and buyers were
    allowed to move in in spite of the clear understanding and permit
    26
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    36
    —3—
    conditions that sewer connections had to wait for improvements to
    the sewage treatment plant.
    This Opinion constitutes the Board’s
    findings of fact and conclu-
    sions of law.
    ORDER
    It is the Order of the Pollution Control Board that the Petition
    for Variance of the City
    of Pontiac and Pontiac Realty, Inc. be
    denied.
    I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois
    Pollution Control
    Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were adopted on the
    ~g~4
    day of
    ,
    1977 by a vote of
    ‘V-o
    (2A~~d1~14~L
    A
    Christan L. Moff~t, Cf~rk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board
    26
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    37

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