ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

October

14, 1982

JOHN PRIOR,

)

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 82—65

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY,

Respondent,

GEORGE

C.

LACKEY,

ATTORNEY AT LAW, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER.

PHILLIP VAN NESS, STAFF ATTORNEY, APPEARED ON BEHALF OF RgSPOMDENT.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by

I.

G.

Goodman):

This matter is an appeal by John Prior

(Prior) from the

April

23,

1982 denial by the Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency (Agency)

of an application for a permit to develop a

non—regional solid waste disposal site located in Grand Prairie

Township, Jefferson County,

Illinois.

Hearing has been held in

this matter and the Board has received no public comment. On

October

6,

1982 the parties herein filed a

joint Motion

for

Expedited Consideration, citing the existence of a new amendment

to the Illinois Environmental Protection Act

(Act),

The motion

is granted.

The proposed landfill, which is the subject of this permit

appeal,

has endured a rather tangled legal situation which the

Board need not address in this case,

At hearing the Agency arid

Prior presented a Stipulation before the Board which purports to

narrow

the issues in this matter to a single issue which is the

sole basis for the Agency’s denial of Prior~spermit application.

The basis of the denial was “the Agency has received notice that

Grand Prairie Township adopted a Zoning Ordinance.

Your applica-

tion does not indicate that zoning approval has been received

from Grand Prairie Township.”

The parties broke that issue into

subsidiary issues concerning whether the Zoning Ordinance applied

any valid requirements on Prior’s proposed landfill and whether

there was sufficient proof of the existence of the Zoning Ordi-

nance before the Agency.

A subsequent occurrence renders these issues moot for

practical purposes.

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2

On September

8,

1982 an amendment to the Act,

P.A.

82—972,

became effective,

That amendment to the Act deletes that part

of Section 39(c) which precluded Agency approval of a permit

application for the development or construction of a new facility

other than a new regional pollution control

facility unless the

applicant had submitted proof that all necessary zoning approvals

from the local unit of government had been obtained.

Section 39(c)

now states, in pertinent part:

“Except for

those facilities owned

or operated by sanitary

districts organized under

‘An Act to create sanitary dis-

tricts and to remove obstructions

in Des Plaines and

Illinois Rivers’, approved May 29, 1889, as now or here-

after amended and except for new regional pollution con-

trol facilities as governed by Section 39.2,

and except

for fossil—fuel mining facilities, the granting of a permit

under this Act shall not relieve the applicant from meeting

and securing all necessary zoning approvals from the unit

of government having zoning jurisdiction over the proposed

facilities.”

This amendment

(P.A.

82—972) in effect eliminates zoning

approval as

a prerequisite to Agency issuance of permits for non—

regional pollution control facilities but requires applicants to

obtain zoning approval before commencing operation pursuant to a

permit.

The Board shall apply the law as it exists today and

finds that the Agency denial based upon lack of zoning approval

is

in error.

The Board shall therefore reverse and remand this

matter to the Agency for further consideration consistent with

this Opinion.

This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and conclusions

of law of the Board in this matter.

ORDER

The denial by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

of an application by John Prior

for a permit to develop a non—

regional solid waste disposal site located in Grand Prairie

Township, Jefferson County,

Illinois is hereby reversed.

This

matter is remanded to the Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency for further consideration consistent with the Opinion

herein.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

I,

Christan L. Moffet,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify that t e

bove Opinion and Order

was adopte~onthe

14”-

day of

_____________,

1982 by a

vote of

~

Christan L. MoE et

Illinois Pollution ~thi.t~’rol

Board

49-176