ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
August 15, 1996
VILLAGE OF LYNWOOD,
Petitioner,
v.
COOK COUNTY BOARD OF
COMMISSIONERS AND J.T. EINODER
COMPANY,
Respondents.
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PCB 97-28
(Landfill Siting Review)
ORDER OF THE BOARD (by C.A. Manning):
This matter is before the Illinois Pollution Control Board (Board) on an appeal filed
pursuant to paragraph (b) of Section 40.1 of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS
5/40.1 (1994)) on August 6, 1996 by the Village of Lynwood (Petitioner) from the decision of
the Cook County Board of Commissioners (County) granting local siting approval to J.T.
Einoder Company for the pollution control facility located near the Village of Lynwood in
Cook County.
The cited section of the Act requires the Board to hear the instant petition if it has been
filed by a third party other than the applicant if the party participated in the public hearing
conducted by the county board or municipal governing body which granted siting approval,
unless it determines that the petition is duplicitous or frivolous, or that the petitioner is so
located as to not be affected by the proposed facility. An action before the Board is duplicitous
if the matter is identical or substantially similar to one brought in another forum (Brandle v.
Ropp, PCB 85-68, 64 PCB 263 (1985)). An action before the Board is frivolous if it fails to
state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted by the Board (Citizens for a Better
Environment v. Reynolds Metals Co., PCB 73-173, 8 PCB 46 (1973)).
The petition indicates that the petitioner participated in the previous public hearing.
There is no evidence before the Board to indicate this matter is identical or substantially similar
to any matter brought in another forum, nor is there any evidence that the Board cannot grant
the relief requested. There is also no evidence before the Board to suggest that the petitioner
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Record Before The County of Cook Board of Appeals
P.A. 82-682, also known as SB-172, as codified in Section 40.1(a) of the Act, provides
that the hearing before the Board is to “be based exclusively on the record before the county
board or the governing body of the municipality.” The statute does not specify who is to file
with the Board such record or who is to certify to the completeness or the correctness of the
record.
As the County alone can verify and certify what exactly is the entire record before it, in
the interest of protecting the rights of all parties to this action, and in order to satisfy the
intention of SB-172, the Board believes that the County must be the party to prepare and file
the record on appeal. The Board suggests that guidance in so doing can be had by reference to
Rules 321 through 324 of the Illinois Supreme Court Rules. (107 Ill. 2d R. 321-324). The
record shall contain legible versions of all documents, transcripts, and exhibits deemed to
pertain to this proceeding from initial filing through and including final action by the local
government body. The record shall contain the originals of all documents, shall be arranged as
much as possible in chronological sequence, and shall be sequentially numbered, placing the
letter “C” before the number of each page. In addition to the actual documents which
comprise the record, the County Clerk shall also prepare a document entitled “Certificate of
Record on Appeal” which shall be an index of the record that lists the documents comprising
the record and shows the page number upon which they start and end. The original and nine
copies of the certificate shall be filed with the Board, and a copy of the certificate shall be
served upon the petitioner(s). The original and nine copies of the transcript of the local
hearing and the original and three copies of any other documents in the record shall be filed
with the Board. The Clerk of the County is given 21 days from the date of this order to
“prepare, bind and certify the record on appeal” (107 Ill. 2d R. 324.) If the record is not
legible, sequentially numbered, or fails to include an appropriate index of record, the Clerk of
the Pollution Control Board may refuse to accept the document for filing.
Waiver of the Decision Deadline
Section 40.1(a) provides that if there is no final action by the Board within 120 days,
petitioner may deem the site location approved.
The Board has construed identical “in accordance with the terms of” language
contained in Section 40(b) of the Act concerning third-party appeals of the grant of hazardous
waste landfill permits as giving the person who had requested the permit a) the right to a
decision within the applicable statutory time frame (now 120 days), and b) the right to waive
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The issue of who has the burden of providing transcription in Board site location
suitability appeals has been addressed in Town of Ottawa, et al. v. IPCB, et al., 129 Ill. App.
3rd, 472 N.E. 2d 150 (Third District, 1984). In that case, the Court ordered the Board to
assume transcription costs (472 N.E. 2d at 155). The Supreme Court denied leave to appeal
on March 14, 1985. In cognizance of this ruling, the Board will provide for stenographic
transcription of the Board hearing in this matter.
Scheduling and Conduct of the Hearing
The hearing must be scheduled and completed in a timely manner, consistent with
Board practices and the applicable statutory decision deadline, or the decision deadline as
extended by waiver (the siting applicant may file a waiver of the statutory decision deadline
pursuant to 35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.105). The Board will assign a hearing officer to conduct
hearings consistent with this order, and the Clerk of the Board shall promptly issue appropriate
directions to that assigned hearing officer.
The assigned hearing officer shall inform the Clerk of the Board of the time and
location of the hearing at least 40 days in advance of hearing so that public notice of hearing
may be published. After hearing, the hearing officer shall submit an exhibit list, a statement
regarding credibility of witnesses and all actual exhibits to the Board within five days of the
hearing.
Any briefing schedule shall provide for final filings as expeditiously as possible and, in
time-limited cases, no later than 30 days prior to the decision due date, which is the final
regularly scheduled Board meeting date on or before the statutory or deferred decision
deadline. Absent any future waivers of the decision deadline, the statutory decision deadline is
now December 4, 1996 (120 days from August 6, 1996); the Board meeting immediately
preceding the decision deadline is scheduled for November 21, 1996.
If after appropriate consultation with the parties, the parties fail to provide an
acceptable hearing date, or if after an attempt the hearing officer is unable to consult with the
parties, the hearing officer shall unilaterally set a hearing date in conformance with the
schedule above. The hearing officer and the parties are encouraged to expedite this proceeding
as much as possible.
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 _____ day of ___________, 1996, by a vote of