ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

August 14, 1986

ILLINOIS MILITARY AND

)

NAVAL DEPARTMENT,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 86—123

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY,

Respondent.

ORDER OF THE BOARD (by 3. Anderson):

On August 14,1986, the Illinois Military and Naval

Department (IMNIL) filed a petition for variance, which waived

hearing, from 35 Ill. Adm. Code 201.144 “Permits for Existing

Sources” as it relates to the Chicago Avenue National Guard

Armory at 234 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago. The petition contained

a motion for expedited consideration, stating that 31 additional

National Guard Armory sites are similarly situated and that

decision by September 15, 1986 is desirable, since IMNIL will

have to “immediately renew several permits and pay permit fees...

and that IMNIL does not have budgeted funding for these permits

and will have to use some other limited funds that will not be

available after 15 September 1986”. The request for expedited

consideration is granted.

Section 201.144 contains the operating permit requirement

for existing emission sources. Section 201.146 “Exemptions from

Permit Requirement” contains an exemption for

c) Fuel burning emission sources for indirect systems and

for heating and reheating furnace systems used

exclusively for residential or commercial establishments

using gas and/or fuel oil exclusively with a total

capacity of less than 14.6 MW (50 mmbtu/hr) input.

Neither “residential” nor “commercial” is defined in

Sections 201.101 or 201.102. In the Board’s Opinion adopting

these rule’s in R71—23, November 8, 1972, the only discussion of

this exemption was that

“Certain classes of emission sources are exempted

from the permit requirements, but not from the

substantive limitations, because the burden of

processing permits in these cases would not be

72.58

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justified by the benefits. The exempted classes

are basically numerous small sources”.

In considering this petition for variance, the threshold

question is whether these armory sites fall within the Section

201.146(c) exemption to Section 201.144. If so, no variance is

necessary.

The Chicago Avenue National Guard Armory has 304,474 square

feet. This building space is used for assembly halls, rifle

ranges, classrooms, libraries, learning centers, administrative

offices, locker rooms, unit storage, kitchen areas, toilets,

mechanical equipment rooms and vehicle storage. There are 64

full time employees and 802 authorized members of the IL Army

National Guard (IL ARNG) assigned to the site. The primary

purposes of the armory are to provide administrative space for

the assigned units of the IL ARNG and to provide a training

location for the assigned units on training weekends. The armory

is also used at various times by local civilian groups as a

meeting site.

The use of the armory, then, is not literally residential,

nor is it literally commercial, in the sense of use for the

conduct of trade or business, as is a shop. On the other hand,

the use is not industrial, and is a heating use akin to that in a

“residential or commercial” site.

Accordingly, the Board would interpret the armory use as a

“residential or commercial” use within the meaning of the Section

201.146(c) exemption and would propose to dismiss the petition on

the grounds that variance relief is unnecessary, provided that

the armory’s boilers would otherwise fall within the exemption

due to capacity. However, due to IMNIL’s inadvertent failure to

include the permit materials referenced in paragraph 5 as

“enclosed”, the Board cannot make this necessary factual

determination. ILMNG is directed to file information regarding

the boilers’ capacity on or before August 22, 1986.

Additionally, recognizing the possibility that other types

of emission sources including perhaps churches, schools and other

non—industrial, non—residential, non—commercial sources could

potentially be impacted by such a ruling, the Board will not

enter a dismissal order before receipt of input from the

Agency. Given the tight timeframe involved, the Agency is

requested to provide a response to this Order on or before August

25. Additionally, in order to allow for the possibility of

timely decision in the event the Board determines that a variance

proceeding must go forward, the Agency is directed to publish

newspaper notice of the filing of the petition without delay.

The Agency is also requested to be prepared to file a

Recommendation, if necessary, on or before September 8, 1986, to

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allow for the possibility of decision in this matter at the

Board’s September 11 meeting if no objections are filed.

The Clerk is directed to provide first—class, as well as

certified, mail service of this Order.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certify that the above Order was adopted on

the

j’-/~Z

day of ______________________, 1986 by a vote of

______

VI

Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board