RECEVED
CLK’S
OFFICE
JUN
032009
STATE
OF
ILLINOIS
Public Comments
submitted
to
the Pollution Control
Board by
Thomas Gilmour
Pollution Control
Boa
d
RE
Case
#
PCB
2007-146,
Fox
Moraine LLC
v United City
of Yorkville
June 2,
2009
-
I wish
to
comment
on the issue of fairness
as
it applies
to
the
Landfill
Hearings
that took place
in
Yorkville in 2007.
I attended all of
the hearings and witnessed
the proceedings
which are now
being
called “unfair”
by Fox
Moraine.
Just the opposite is true!
The hearings
were conducted in
a
fair
and orderly
fashion
and moderated
in
a
professional
way by Hearing
Officer Larry Clark.
Fox
Moraine presented several
witnesses, some
taking
several
days
to
present all
of
their
information.
Much of
their information
was presented in
the form of lengthy
and elaborate
power
points while the speaker
narrated and
expounded on the
topic. Fox
Moraine
has said that
it
was
given all
the time
it needed
to
call its
witnesses and
was
not denied
the opportunity
to do so.
During
this
time,
I observed that the
City Council listened
intently
to
the information
presented
and asked
important questions
ofthe witnesses, often
seeking further
clarification
or explanation.
As
I
see it, Fox
Moraine’s
claim that
these hearings were
unfair
is totally
unfounded
and
has no
basis.
As for the community
members who
sat
in the
audience
during
the hearings,
they also
listened
to
the
information presented
by
Fox
Moraine
and were then
allowed
to submit
questions for the
witnesses.
The questions
from the audience
were
read
by
Mr. Clark
and were answered
by the
witnesses.
This also
was
done
in
a
fair
and
orderly
way.
Fox Moraine
also claims that
objectors to the
Application,
namely
members of
Friends
of
Greater Yorkville,
engaged in prejudicial
ex parte
contacts
with members
of the
City Council.
This claim
is unfounded, and Fox
Moraine
was unable
to
offer any
proof to this
claim
in
the
Appeal
Hearings. As
a
member
of this
group,
I can
say
that
this is a false
claim
with
no
substantiation
whatsoever.
Furthermore,
in
the Appeal
Hearings,
it
was
evident
that Fox
Moraine
was
confused about
who
the
actual members
of FOGY
were.
When the series
of events leading
up to Fox Moraine’s
application
to
the City of Yorkville
are
examined,
it is
clear
that
Fox Moraine
tried
to
find the
most
receptive
host
community
for
its
landfill.
When talks
with
Kendall
County
officials ended, Fox
Moraine then
began talks with the
City of Yorkville,
and consequently
a
series
of land
annexations
were
planned
to
extend
out to
the proposed
landfill property
to
bring
this property
into the city limits.
What was
unfair
was
the
way
this was done
— in
a process hidden
from
the public.
When the
public did finally
become
aware
of these
annexation
plans, they voiced
their
opinions
in public meetings
held during
this
time.
Fox Moraine should
recognize
that the
public
was
within
its
rights
to
speak publically
and
express
opinions,
this
being their
Constitutional
rights of
freedom
of speech.
After
all
these
events, and
after Fox Moraine’s
failure
to
offer proof
that
it could
meet
the
siting
criteria,
it
now wants to say
the whole thing
was
just
“fundamentally
unfair.”
This is like
a
Little
League
baseball team
who
loses
a
game and then
claims the
other team
won
dishonestly
and says
the
umpire
was
unfair!
Fox
Moraine
cannot
show
any
proof
or evidence
to
its list of “unfair”
allegations,
even though
it
had
the opportunity
to do so in
the Appeal
Hearings. The
fact
remains
that the Application
failed to satisfr
the
required
siting
criteria.
I
therefore
urge the
Pollution
Control Board
to
uphold the decision ofthe Yorkville City
Council to deny the landfill siting
application. What indeed would
be
fundamentally unfair
would be the overturning of the
decision made
by the
City Council.
Thank
you.
Sincerely,
Thomas
Gilmour
23
Fox Glen Dr.,
Yorkville,
IL 60560
June 2, 2009