ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL
    BOARD
    June 30,
    1983
    NORRIS CITY SANITARY DISTRICT
    )
    and LAMPLIGHT MANOR,
    )
    Petitioner,
    )
    V.
    )
    PCB 83—42
    ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
    )
    PROTECTION AGENCY,
    )
    Respondent.
    OPINION AND
    ORDER
    OF THE
    BOARD
    (by J .D.
    Dumelle):
    This matter comes before the Board upon a March 30,
    1983
    petition and an April
    18,
    1983 amended petition for variance filed
    by the Norris City Sanitary Diétrict
    (NCSD) and Lamplight Manor
    Apartment Complex.
    While not explicitly stated, the Board
    construes the petition as requesting variance from Condition No.
    3 of the Board’s October 14,
    1982 Order in NCSD and Lamplight Manor
    Apartment Complex v.
    IEPA, PCB 81-187.
    On May
    9,
    1983 the Illinois
    Environmental Protection Agency (Agency) filed a recommendation
    that variance be granted subject to certain conditions.
    Hearing
    was waived and none was held.
    The Board’s Opinion in PCB 81-187,
    above, details the
    underlying
    facts in this matter which will only be summarized
    here.
    Lamplight Manor seeks authorization to construct a
    twenty-unit,
    low income, multi—family housing project to
    be
    connected through a sewer extension to the NCSD wastewater treatment
    plant which has been on Restricted Status since June 15,
    1977.
    Lamplight Manor hopes to receive a Farmers Home Administration
    (FmHA)
    loan.
    However, that loan could be lost unless variance is
    granted allowing connection to the treatment plant upon completion
    of construction.
    In PCB 81—187 the Board granted variance to allow construction,
    but denied variance allowing connection prior to termination of
    Restricted Status.
    As the Board stated in its October 14,
    1982
    Opinion, it was ~faced with balancing an ill—supported need for low
    income housing against environmental harm that
    is now occurring”
    (Op. p.
    4).
    The environmental harm included backups of raw sewage
    into yards and basements.
    It was because of those backups and
    because treatment plant upgrading was to be completed by December,
    1983 while full occupancy was not expcected until late summer of
    that year that the Board concluded that the construction should
    be
    allowed to proceed but that connection would not be allowed until
    termination of Restricted Status.
    52-483
    —2—
    On March 29,
    1983, the Agency reissued NCSD’s NPDES Permit
    No.
    1L0030155.
    This permit which became effective April
    28,
    1983
    will expire February 29,
    1988.
    Special Condition
    6 of the NPDES
    Permit is a schedule for compliance that is presented below:
    Grant Action
    Date
    Submit final plans and
    May, 1983
    specifications
    Commence construction
    October,
    1983
    Complete construction
    September, 1984
    Attain operation level
    Not later than
    3 months after
    completion of construction
    This schedule was revised largely because the Agency insisted that
    NCSD segment its project in order to obtain actual flow data which
    will facilitate the design of the wastewater treatment plant.
    NCSD is currently in the Step
    2 design phase of the Federal
    Construction Grants Program to upgrade its sewage treatment plant.
    During October
    —
    November,
    1982, NCSD completed its sewer system
    rehabilitation and the Agency authorized NCSD to proceed with
    design portions of the wastewater treatment plant
    (e.g., lab
    building), which would not be impacted by the flow studies.
    According to an NCSD engineer, flow studies have been completed
    and NCSD plans to submit final plans and specifications
    iii
    accordance with its NPDES permit,
    Schedule of Complianc...
    Under present projections the treatment plant will be upgraded
    and operational by December of 1984,
    while the apartments are
    expected to be rented by February of 1984.
    Thus,
    if the variance
    is granted, and if both projects are completed on schedule,
    connection would precede completion and full operation of the
    treatment plant by ten months.
    The Board has never condoned the aggravation of sewer backups
    and will not do so now.
    The Agency alleges that “sanitary sewer
    backups and overflows in the Carrol and Liberty Street areas are
    still occurring” and that “flows from the proposed apartment
    complex will only aggrivate (sic) this situation”
    (Rec.,
    p.4).
    However, if Lamplight Manor were to install
    a holding tank which
    would hold three day’s flow from the proposed development to be
    discharged to the NCSD only during low flow periods such that
    the development would not cause or contribute to sewer backups
    or overflows,
    the aggravation of environmental harm would be
    minimized.
    The holding tank could, of course, be removed upon
    completion of the upgrading of the NCSD treatment plant and its
    attainment of an operational
    level.
    Such a holding tank,
    based
    upon NCSD’s figures would have to have a minimum capacity of
    7,200 gallons.
    With the use of such a holding tank and the expeditious
    completion of the treatment plant upgrading, the Board finds
    that there will be little or no environmental harm and concludes
    52-484
    —3—
    that denial
    of the variance would constitute an arbitrary or
    unreasonable hardship.
    Variance will, therefore,
    be granted
    subject to the conditions recommended by the Agency in addition
    to the use of a holding tank.
    This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
    conclusions of law in this matter.
    ORDER
    The Norris City Sanitary District and Lamplight Apartment Complex
    are hereby granted variance from Condition 3 of the Board’s
    October 14, 1982 Order in PCB 81—187 to allow connection of
    a
    sewer extension serving
    a 20-unit apartment building subject
    to the following conditions:
    1.
    NCSD shall continue in the Federal Construction
    Grants Program and comply with the following schedule:
    Submit final plans and specifications
    May,
    1983
    Commence construction
    October, 1983
    Complete construction
    September, 1984
    Attain operational
    level
    December,
    1984
    2.
    NCSD shall submit flow and analytical data on monthly
    DMR’s in accordance with the requirements of its NPDES
    Permit.
    3.
    Lamplight Manor Apartment Complex shall
    install a
    holding tank approved of by the Agency with a minimum
    capacity of 7,200 gallons.
    Discharge from that tank
    shall only be permitted during low flow periods when such
    discharge will not cause or contribute to sewer backups
    or overflows, as specified by the Agency.
    4.
    Within 45 days of the date of this Order, Lamplight
    Manor Apartment Complex shall execute a Certification of
    Acceptance and Agreement to be bound to all terms and
    conditions of the variance.
    Said Certification shall be
    submitted to the Agency at 2200 Churchill Road, Springfield,
    Illinois
    62706.
    The 45—day period shall be held in
    abeyance during any period that this matter is being
    appealed.
    The form of said Certification shall be as
    follows:
    CERTIFICATION
    I,
    (We)
    hereby accepts and agrees to be bound by all terms and conditions
    52-485
    —4--
    of the Order of the Pollution Control Board in PCB 83-42, June
    30, 1983.
    Petitioner
    Authorized Ageny
    Title
    Date
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Christan L.
    Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
    Control Board, hereby certify that the above Opinion and Order
    were adopte~on the
    .3~
    day of
    ‘~_&-~-~
    ,
    1983 by
    a vote of 4—o
    Ch&nL.~Pe~Q~e
    rk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board
    52-486

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