ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
September
23,
1983
TIMBERLAKE ESTATES
SANITARY DISTRICT,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 83—82
ILLINOIS ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION AGENCY,
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by W.
J.
Nega):
This matter comes before the Board upon a July
11,
1983
petition for variance from 35 Iii.
Adrn.
Code 309.241(a)
filed by
the Timberiake
Estates Sanitary District
(TESD) which requested
that the Petitioner he allowed
to connect 33 single family homes,
the Emmanuel Baptist Church and Christian School
to a sewer which
is tributary to the DuPage County Department of Public Works’
Marionbrook treatment facility.
The Marionbrook plant was placed
on restricted status on April
30,
1979 by the Illinois Environ-
mental Protection Agency
(Agency) primarily because of hydraulic
overloading and effluent quality problems due to excessive inflow
and infiltration.
The variance request
filed by the TESD is essen-
tially the same as previously requested by the County of DuPage
and Charles
R,
Specking,
et. al.
in PCB 81—126 which was dismissed
without prejudice on February
4,
1982 at the request of the
petitioners.
The Agency filed a Recommendation on August
11,
1983 which recommended that variance be granted.
No hearing has
been held
in this matter.
The Petitioner,
the TESD, was recently organized and
established as
a sanitary district on May
3,
1983 pursuant
to the Sanitary District Act of 1936,
Ill.
Rev.
Stat.
1981,
ch.
42,
sec.
411.99
et seq.
(See:
Exhibit C).
The properties
encompassed by the TESD are all located in Downers Grove
Township in Du Page County,
Illinois.
The Hinsdale Timberlake
Estates subdivision was platted in 1954 and the first homes
were constructed in 1957.
(Pet.
3;
see:
Exhibits A and B).
The Emmanuel Baptist Church has 350 members with 150 students
in attendance at its affiliated Christian School.
Sewer
flows
from this church and school
are estimated to he equivalent
54-115
—2—
to flows from 10 single family homes.
(Pet.
3).
The
TESD has
estimated that the requested connection will result in an initial
daily quantity of approximately 13,400 gallons per day of raw
domestic sewage or 134 population equivalents
(PE)
*/
(Pet.
4).
Under present zoning, there will be no industrial or commercial
wastes discharged.
The raw wastewater
is estimated to have a
flow of 0.013 million gallons per day;
BOD of
23 lb/day and
suspended solids of
27 lb/day.
(Pet.
4).
The
Petitioner has indicated that the requested connection
is necessary because many of the existing homes are served by
defective or marginal septic systems which cause environmental
problems.
(Pet.
10—15;
See:
Exhibits
D through S—2).
In 1981,
the Du Page County Health Department conducted inspections which
revealed that
13 homes located
in the Hinsdale Timberlake Estates
subdivision had malfunctioning private sewage disposal systems
and stated that, because of the lack of the requisite public
sewers,
it was unlikely that repairs alone could correct such
malfunctions,
(See:
Exhibits Q-1 and Q—2).
The Petitioner has also stated that:
(1) although the slough
(i.e.,
Lake Timberlake)
is “posted” by Du Page County Health
Department, children often swim in the lake;
(2) sewage backups
into basements and living quarters frequently occur;
(3) un-
favorable soil conditions exist
(thereby causing periodic storm—
water inundation in low—lying areas); and
(4)
failures of even
“high ground” septic systems
indicate that some tile fields
may have been laid in solids that are unsatisfactory to support
the systems.
(Pet,
10-14).
These environmental hardships tend
to support the Petitioner’s contentions that the requested con-
nections are necessary
in the present case,
The TESD has noted that, pursuant to an order issued on
December
4,
1980 by the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in
People of the State of Illinois v. County of Du ~
(Docket
Number 80 MR 432),
Du Page County was ordered to construct and
operate an interim package treatment plant
(i.e., the Knollwood
interim facility).
The construction of this interim plant, along
with the interceptor tributary to the facility,
will allow
Du Page County to reduce the loading at the Marionbrook plant by
diverting a portion of the wastewater
flows from the Marionbrook
facility to the Knollwood interim treatment plant.
(Pet.
7).
~
Variance Petition, the Petitioner estimates
that the proposed sewerage will handle initial flows of 138
population equivalents
(PE).
The Agency’s Recommendation also
refers to the 138
PE figure.
However, on pages
4 and
6 of the
Variance Petition, the Petitioner refers to a figure of 13,400
gallons per day which would indicate that the 134
PE figure
(which
is utilized in
a mathematical formula on page
6 of the
Variance Petition)
is actually accurate.
54-116
—3—
On January
7,
1982,
the Circuit Court amended its order in
80 MR 432.
In this amended court order, various conditions are
mandated for those who did not hold a permit from
the Agency as
of the date of the oriqinal. Court Order
(i.e., December
4,
1980)
until
such time as the Knollwood permanent facility is completed,
which includes the Petitioner.
(See: Willowbrook
Motel
~~ershi
v.
IEPA and The County of Du Paqe,
PCB 81—149,
July
14,
1983),
Three of the
most important court—imposed conditions are
that new connection requests may be:
(1) considered only from
those who have received
a variance from the Board allowing the
Agency to issue a sewer permit;
(2) filled only to the extent
of those
PE earned under the provisions of the specified
allocation system;
and
(3) filled only to the extent of
those
PE off—loaded from the Marionbrook sewage treatment plant.
(Rec.
2—3).
In its Recommendation, the Agency notes that
it
is TESD’s
responsibility to obtain, at the discretion of the Du
Page Depart-
ment of Public Works, the appropriate number of PE’s necessary for
its project if the requested variance is granted.
(Rec.
3).
The Petitioner has stated that its proposed construction
of sanitary sewers will proceed about the same time that Du Page
County
is working on the construction of its new interceptor
sewer “so that, when the Department’s interceptor becomes
operational, Petitioner
will
be ready to immediately ask
permission to connect (operate)
its new sewerage to the system
tributary to Marionbrook.”
(Pet.
7).
TESD asserts that the
environmental impact on
Sawmill Creek, the receiving stream,
from the Petitioner’s planned dischrages will be minimal,
(Pet.
9). The Petitioner notes that Du Page County plans to
phase out the Marionbrook plant and replace
it with a permanent
new regional Knoliwood facility which is scheduled to become
operational
in the middle to late 1980’s depending on funding.
(Pet.
5—7),
The Petitioner has indicated that the cost of
its proposed
sewerage project will be approximately $336,000.00.
In addition
~
the project cost, the cost to connect each property to the
public
sewer will range between $750.00 and $1,250.00 depending
on the location of each septic tank.
The entire construction
cost of the Petitjoner~ssewerage project will be paid by
TESD with funds generated
by
either general obligation or
revenue bonds or by special sssessraents to
the
property
owners
(Pet.
8),
Dii Page County,
which is bearing none of
the
actual project costs,
is planning to assess
a connection
54-117
—4—
(“tap—on”)
fee of about $600.00 per single family dwelling.
The individual property owners will be solely responsible for
paying this tap—on fee and for the
expenses of disconnecting
their homes
from the septic tanks currently in use.
Each
home will utilize its own private well
for domestic water
supply.
(Pet.
8).
The Agency notes that the interim Knoliwood facility was
allowed to provide limited growth while the permanent Knollwood
plant is
in the process of being designed and constructed.
Moreover, the Agency emphasizes that the completion of the
interim Knollwood plant and the Knoliwood East Interceptor
will not result
in the Marionbrook plant coming into compliance
nor will it result
in the restricted status being lifted on
Marionbrook.
(Rec.
4),
However,
the Agency has concluded that “the public health
hazard of the malfunctioning septic systems
is such that granting
a variance to allow connection to a wastewater treatment
facility which is currently overloaded but anticipating relief
in the form of off-loading would be the lesser of environmental
evils.”
(Rec.
4).
Accordingly, the Agency has recommended that the Board grant
the Petitioner’s requested variance, conditioned upon compliance
with the terms of the Circuit Court’s order in 80 MR 432.
The Board
finds that denial of the requested variance would
cause an arbitrary or unreasonable hardship and,
in particular that,
on balance, the connection to the treatment facility would result
in less of a threat
of environmental
harm than the continued
operation or upgrading of the septic systems.
Thus, the Board
concludes that variance should be granted.
However, the Board
will not include the specified condition requested the Agency.
(See:
Board Orders dated November 19,
1981 and January 7,
1982
in Willowbrook Motel Partnership v.
IEPA and the County of Du Page,
PCB 81—149).
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact
and conclusion of law
in this matter.
ORDER
The Timberlake Estates Sanitary District is hereby granted
a variance from 35
Ill.
Adro. Code 309.241(a) to allow connection
of 33 single
family dwellings, the Emmanuel Baptist Church and
Christian School to a sewer which
is tributary to the Du Page
County Department of Public Works’ Marionbrook treatment
facility, subject
to the following condItions:
54-118
—5—
1.
Before any sewerage connections are actually made,
the Timberlake Estates Sanitary District shall have
obtained all the requisite permits
from the Agency.
2.
Within 45 days of the date of this Order,
the Timberlake
Estates Sanitary District 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 of the
Order of the Pollution Control Board in PCB 83-82 dated September
23, 1983.
Petitioner
Authorized Agent
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 was
adopted on ~he
C~t’~
day of
______________,
1983 by a
vote of
~‘-
0
Illinois Polluti
Board
54-119