ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
June 2,
1994
LAKE
COUNTY FOREST
)
PRESERVE DISTRICT,
)
Complainant,
v.
)
PCB 92-80
)
(Enforcement)
NEIL OSTRO,
JANET
OSTRO,
)
and BIG FOOT ENTERPRISES,
)
)
Respondents.
)
OPINION
AND
ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by J. Theodore Meyer):
This
matter is before the Board on a joint motion for
acceptance of settlement agreement and entry of final order,
filed by complainant Lake County Forest Preserve District
(District)
and respondents Neil Ostro, Janet Ostro, and Big Foot
Enterprises (collectively, respondents)
on May 27, 1994.
The
parties note that on March 31,
1994, the Board entered an interim
opinion and order finding the respondents in violation of
Sections 21(a),
(e),
(f)(l), and
(m)
of the Environmental
Protection Act (Act).
(415 ILCS 5/21(a),
(e),
(f)(1), and
(in)
(1992).)
The Board ordered respondents to provide for further
investigation, and any necessary remediation, of the property at
the northwest corner of Sunshine Avenue and Route 45 in Lake
Villa,
Illinois.
The Board also ordered that
a further hearing
be held on the issues of the amount and reasonableness of the
District’s costs in performing clean up at the property, and any
other information necessary for the Board to award clean up costs
and impose civil penalties.
The parties have subsequently negotiated and agreed to a
settlement agreement and mutual release, attached to the motion
as Exhibit A.
The parties state that the settlement agreement is
designed to resolve the dispute between the parties, and to fully
comply with the Board’s directives in the March 31,
1994 opinion
and order.
The agreement provides that respondents shall, within
14 days after the Board enters its final order, comply with the
March 31 order by fully and completely remediating the property
pursuant to applicable law and the specific directives set forth
in Section
5 and Exhibit D of the settlement agreement.
The
agreement also provides that the District will receive a lump sum
payment of $117,500 in consideration of sums incurred in
connection with the remediation of the property.
The parties ask
that the Board grant their joint motion, accept the settlement
agreement, and enter
a final order substantially the same as the
proposed final order attached as Exhibit B to the motion.
2
The joint motion is granted.
The Board has reviewed the
settlement agreement,
and finds
it acceptable.
The Board
interprets the provision in the settlement agreement requiring
that remediation of the property be done pursuant to applicable
law to include approval of the remediation by the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency (Agency), including the securing
of all necessary permits from the Agency.
Finally, on May 20,
1994,
respondents filed a motion to
vacate hearing date and enforce settlement agreement.!
Based
upon the subsequent filing of the joint motion, the May 20 motion
is moot.
This opinion, and the Board’s March 31,
1994 opinion,
constitute the Board’s findings of fact and conclusions of law in
this matter.
ORDER
1)
The Board hereby accepts the “Settlement Agreement and
Mutual Release” executed by complainant Lake County
Forest Preserve District (District)
and respondents
Neil Ostro, Janet Ostro, and Big Foot Enterprises
(collectively, respondents)
concerning the property
located at the northwest corner of Sunshine Avenue and
Route 45 in Lake Villa,
Lake County, Illinois.
The
“Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release” are
incorporated by reference as though fully set forth
herein.
2)
Pursuant to the Board’s March 31,
1994 interim opinion
and order,
respondents shall:
a) further investigate
the environmental condition of the stockpiled soil and
of the excavation pit on the property, and b) perform
all necessary remediation of the stockpiled soil and of
the excavation pit in the manner prescribed in the
“Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release” within 14
days of the date of this order, or as soon thereafter
as weather and site conditions permit.
Respondents’
remediation of the property shall be performed and
conducted pursuant to all applicable laws.
3)
The District shall receive,
in the manner provided in
the “Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release”,
a lump
sum payment of $117,500 as compensation for remediation
The “settlement agreement” referred to
in that motion
is apparently based on discussions between the parties
in fall
1993,
and is not the same as
the
settlement agreement and mutual
release
which
is the subject of
the
joint motion.
3
costs incurred by the District
in connection with the
reinediation of the property.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Section 41 of the Environmental Protection Act (415 ILCS
5/41
(1992)) provides for the appeal of final Board orders within
35 days of the date of service of this order.
The Rules of the
Supreme Court of Illinois establish filing requirements.
(See
also 35 Ill.Adm.Code 101.246 “Motions for Reconsideration”.)
I, Dorothy M. Gunn,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
Board, hereby certify that the ab9v~opinion and order was
adopt~don the
~-~-~--
day of
________________,
1994, by a vote
of
~-.
7/
~.
‘i~orothyN. ~
Clerk
Illinois Po~tZutionControl Board