ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
September
20,
1973
I
EUGENE THOMPSON,
)
i
Petitioner,
3
PCB
73—274
v.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
I
Respondent.
)
I
OPINION AND ORDER OF
THE
BOARD
(by Mr. Seaman)
On July
5,
1973,
Petitioner, Eugene Thompson, the owner
I
of certain land located in North Chicago, County of Lake,
Illinois, filed his Petition for Variance.
Petitioner
requests a variance from Order No.
7 of League of Women
Voters v. North Shore Sanitary District, PCB 70-7,
12,
13
and 14 to obtain
a sewer connection for a single family
dwelling tributary to the North Chicago Sewage Treatment
Plant.
I
Petitioner alleges that
he
owns certain land in North
I
Chicago upon which he intends to build a home.
Petitioner
is presently residing in a one-bedroom apartment with his
I
wife and three-year-old child.
Petitioner’s sole argument
is
as follows:
I
This
is not good for the child nor us.
Living
in an apartment puts limitations and pressures on
all of us.
Our child can~tproperly engage in the
activities that are essential for normal growth
and development.
It is very hard to keep a child
of that age from disturbing the other tenants.
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He can’t play outside because, there
is no yard
for him to play in.
I
This
is the substance of
the
one—page Petition, which
I
is in many respects so deficient and incomplete that the
Board cannot find sufficient allegations upon which a
I
reasoned decision can be made.
We
must,
therefore,
dismiss
the
Petition without prejudice.
9— 311
A variance from
a sewer
ban
may be appropriate when
a particular petitioner is experiencing extremely un-
favorable living conditions
with
no viable alternative
I
solutions.
(McAdams v.
Environmental Protection Agency,
PCB 71-113,
Pena
v.
Environmental Protection Agency,
PCB 71—253)
.
The McAdams family, consisting of four
persons, resided in
a one—bedroom apartment which
the
family had been asked to vacate.
The Penn family lived
I
in a small apartment which was subject to vandalism,
floodinq and rodent infestation.
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Here, Petitioner has failed to allege the absence of
I
viable alternative solutions.
Petitioner is urged to
familiarize himself with Rule 401 of the Procedural Rules
I
of the Illinois Pollution Control Board and consider
Marc Baron v.
Environmental Protection Agency
(PCB 73-195)
I
and Bereskin v. Environmental Protection Agency
(PCB 73-143),
although l3ereskin pertained
to the Clavey Road sewage
I
Treatment Plant.
This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and
I
conclusions of law of the Board.
ORDER
I
IT IS
THE
ORDER of the Pollution Control Board that
the Petition of Eugene Thompson be dismissed without
prejudice.
Mr. Marder abstains.
I
1, Christan
L. Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
I
Control Board, certify that the above Opinion and Order
was adopted by the Board on the
c~
day of
,
I
1973, by
a vote of
4./
to
9— 312