ILLINOIS

POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

June

13,

1985

TIMBERLAKE ESTATES

SANITARY DISTRICT,

Petitioner,

v.

)

PCB 85—6

ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL

)

PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by B. Forcade):

This matter

comes

to the Board

on

a January 16,

1985,

petition for amendment to variance filed

by Timberlake Estates

Sanitary District (‘tTimberlake”).

In a prthr proceeding

(PCB 83—

82, September

23, 1983),

Tiraberlake received

a variance allowing

connection of

33 single family dwellings,

a church and school

to

a sewer tributary to the Marionhrook Wastewater

treatment

facility (~Marionbrook~’)which was on restricted status.

The

present petition seeks

to amend

that prior variance

to include

four single family homes and

four vacant lots which were

inadvertently not included

in the original variance petition.

On

April

30,

1985,

the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency

(“Agency’~) filed

a recommendatfon that variance

be granted

for

the four

single family homes,

hut denied

for

the four vacant

lots.

No objections were received;

no hearing was held.

The Marionbrook facility, which

is owned

and operated by the

DuPage County Department of Public Works

(‘~DuPage~’)has

a design

average flow of

5.0 million gallons per day (~‘MGD”),

On April

30, 1979,

the Agency placed

the Marionbrook facility on

restricted status due

to poor effluent quality and hydraulic

overloading.

The Departraent~slong range plan

to correct this

problem

is

to phase out

the Marionbrook facility and construct a

new regional plant

(Knoliwood) with adequate capabilities near

Madison Street

on the Des Plaines River.

Completion is expected

by late

1980’s.

Pursuant

to

an Order of the Eighteenth Judicial

Circuit

in People of the State

of Illinois

v.

County of DuPage

(Case No.

80 MR 432), January

7,

1982,,

the Department was ordered

to construct and operate an 0.25 MGD interim package treatment

plant

(Knoliwood interim facility) adjacent

to the planned

regional facility.

The Court Order allowed new sewer hook—ups

to

the Marionbrook

facilit:y based on a formula that considers

effluent quality from the Marionhrook facility,

as well

as the

amount of flow off loaded from the Marionbrook facility to other

permitted facilities.

Treatment capacity “earned” under

this

formula can be utilized

by the County

to authorize new hook—ons

only

‘to entities

holding sewer permits

issued by the Agency prior

64-255

---

—2—

to December

6,

1980

pr those that receive a variance from this

Board subsequent to that date,

In July,

1983, Timberlake

filed a petition for variance with

this Board seeking variance for

33 single family homes, the

,cmanuel Baptist Church and Christian school so that sewer hock~

ups

might be permitted once the Court—ordered formula of off~-

Loading and effluent quality had been met.

Timberlake and the

AJerL~yasserted that existing septic systems were malfunctioning

du~to poor soil conditions, frequent inundation of low—lying

o~:eas~

and

improperly laid tile fields.

The Board,

in

a

september 23,

1983, Opinion and Order, PCB 83—82,

found

that

connection

to the treatment facility would result

in less of a

threat of environutental harm than continued operation or

up~radin~of the existing septic systems, and granted the

variance

In

this proceeding, Timberlake seeks to add four existing

singi,a family residences

and four vacant, but buildabie lots,

which were “inadvertently omitted” from the variance request

in

PCD

83--82.

Timberlake has not specifically identified

the four

existing

single family residences.

Nor has Timberlake attempted

to der.ionstrate that the existing residences suffer from

:~dentifiableproblems of malfunctioning septic systems caused by

thc previously cited problems.

Rather,

Timber.iake relies on the

pervasive nature of the problems

in th4~area which result in

standing water contaminated with raw sewage.

This

is supported

by responses to a homeowner—survey (Exhibits B through N~,

ci~atiansby the DuPage County Health Department (Exhibits 0 and

R).:~7~.dphotographs

(Exhibits

S and T),

The Agency concurs

for

the fo~ existing single family residences (~tec.,

17

& 21).

Tiwberlake also requests variance for four vacant but

buildable lots.

Although these lots have been identified

(Exhibit C)~Timberlake

has not identified any existing problem

for these vacant lots which might be balanced against the

c~iv~ronmentalharm from additional

flows which would be added

in

the

future,,

Nor has Timberiake identified any economic hardship

incurre~from commitments made prior

to the imposition of

restricted status,

Consequently, Timberlake has not made a

persuasive case for

a variance applicable

to these vacant lots.

The Board

finds that denial of variance would

cause an

arbitrary or unreasonable hardship for the four existing single

family

residences

in that the connection to the treatment plant

would result in less of a threat of environmental harm than the

continued operation or upgrading of these systems.

Thus,

the

Bca~dwill grant a variance for the existing residences

and deny

a variance for the vacant

lots.

The Board notes that Timberlake

must secure Agency permits and comply with the Court Order

prior

to hook—up for these residences.

This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and

conclusions of law on this matter,

64-258

---

—3--

ORDER

1.

Timberlake Estates Sanitary Disttict

is hereby granted

a

variance from 35 Iii. Adm. Code

309.241

for

the four

existing

single family residences specified

in their petition for

amendment to variance in this matter.

Tiutberlake shall

obtain the appropriate permits from the Illinois

Environmental Protection

Agency.

2.

Tirnberlake Estates Sanitary District is hereby denied a

variance for the four vacant lots specified

in their petition

~or amendment to variance

in this proceeding.

3.

WIthin 45 days of the date of this Order, Timberlake Estates

Sanitary Dirtrict shall execute a Certification of Acceptance

and Agreement to be bound to all terms and conditions of this

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

accept and agree

to

be bound by all

terms and conditions of

the

Order

of the Pollution

Control Board

in OCB 85—6, June 13,

1985.

Petitioner

-~

Authorized Agent

Title

Date

IT IS SO

ORDERED

04487

---

—4—

l~

Dorothy

M.

Gunn, Clerk of the

Illinois Pollution Control

Board, hereby certify that the above Opinion and Order was

adopted

on

the

/~‘ZZ

day of ________________________,

1985, by a

vote of

~

~7Zi~

Dorothy MS G~nn,Clerk

Illinois Pollution Control Board

64-25f3