ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

August

30, 1971

WALTER

R~

SEEGREN

V.

)

PCB

71—106

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Ellis

E~Fuqua,

attorney

for

Walter

R.

Seegren

Roger

C~ Ganobcik,

attorney

fo-r the Environmental Protection

Agency

Dissenting Opinion

(by Mr~ Aldrich):

I disagree with

the majority of the Board

and support the dissenting

opinion of Mr. KisseL

Petitioner requested avariance

from the Board’s Order of March

31,

1971,

banning further connections

to

the sewer lines

of the North

Shore Sanitary District~

He wishes

to connect two eighteen~unit

apartment buildings

to

the District’s Waukegan

lines.

The buildings

in question were completed prior

to our entry of the

Order prohibiting new sewer connections.

However,

the Environmental

Protection Agency refused to grant petitioner

a sewer construction

permitS

I do not address

this dissent

to the appropriateness

of

the Agency’s action but rather to what the Board’s disposition of

the request should be.

After being denied a permit to attach the buildings

to

the sewer,

Seegren installed

a septic tank to serve both buildings~

Although

this

action

provided

an

inter.ii~

solution

and

permitted

the

buildings

to

be

occupied,

it

is

of

doubtful

long~terrn

acceptability.

The

record of septic systems

in terms

of reliability

is

not

a good

one.

A system of large capacity,

as is recuired here,

is particu~

larly

suspect.

I have consistently held

that anyone who, prior

to the sewer ban,

had made

a substantial commitment beyond bare purchase

of

a lot

should be entitled to use existing sewer lines

(see my dissenting

opinion in Robert

C. Wagnon

V.

EPA,

PCB

71-85),

Certainly Seegren

had made such

a commitment.

He had obtained building permits from

the City of Waukegan

at

a cost of

$l,954~lO

each~

Construction

was completed

in January or February of

this year.

Seegren clearly

expended large sums

of money

in reliance upon his ability to use

the

sewers.

2

—

287

---

The potential effect on the environment of the wastes from the

apartments

in question

is minimal

in relation to the total load

to the sewer system.

In my judgment

the hardship imposed on

petitioner from denial of his request greatly overrides possible

damage to the environment.

I would grant

the variance.

I, Regina E.

Ryan,

Clerk of the Board,

certify that Dr.

Samuel

R.

Aldrich submitted the above dissenting opinion on this 3~day

of ~

1971.

)

~

2

—