ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
April
28, 1977
CRAWFORD COUNTY STATE BANK,
Land Trust
#185,
Petitioner,
v.
)
PCB 77-32
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
)
Respondent.
OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
(by Mr. Young):
This matter is before the Board on the petition filed
on January
31,
1977,
by the Crawford County State Bank, Land
Trust #185,
seeking variance from Rule
962(a) of Chapter
3:
Water Pollution, for a sanitary sewer extension
to serve
a
twenty-four unit apartment complex.
The Agency is presently
unable to issue an operating permit for this extension because
it is
tributary
to the Mt. Vernon sewage lift station #1, which
experiences overflows during periods of wet weather.
The Agency
Recommendation favorable to the grant of the variance was
filed
on April
11, 1977.
Although Petitioner commenced construction of the apartment
complex without first obtaining the requisite Agency permits,
Petitioner alleges that this occurred only because the Mt. Vernon
city engineer had given assurances
that the downstream sewers
and treatment facilities were adequate.
Petitioner alleges
that
a severe hardship will be suffered unless it is permitted to rent
these apartments as soon as they are completed,
or some time
in April,
1977.
The Petitioner also alleges that the City of
Mt. Vernon
is
in desperate need of
rental. housinq.
The City of Mt. Vernon
is presently
in the process of up-
grading lift station
#1 and it is estimated that the project will
be completed in early July,
1977.
The station has sufficient
dry weather capacity to receive the anticipated flow from Peti-
tioner’s facility,
and this flow will receive adequate treatment
at the Mt. Vernon sewage treatment plant.
The lift station
presently has
a design average flow of 230,400 gals/day with
a
peak capacity of 576,000 gals/day.
According to Petitioner, the
maximum flow to the station prior to any upgrading was 787,352
gals/day.
By January of 1977, the lift station upgrading had
25
—
405
—2—
already brought about an estimated 20
reduction in flow
(157,470 gals/day)
to the
station.
These figures indicate
that if no further upgrading occurred until the new lift
station is fully operable,
that there wOuld be a 53,882
gals/day excess flow to the
existing station during periods
of wet weather.
The capacity of
the proposed lift station
is
1,120,320 gals/day.
The Board is disposed to grant the relief requested.
The Board finds that the hardship that would be suffered
by Petitioner and the Mt. Vernon community
far outweighs the
detrimental environmental impact that result from a variance
grant.
The Board has given considerable weight to the fact
that the existing overflow problem will be completely eliminated
in less than 90 days.
This Opinion constitutes the Board’s findings of fact and
conclusions of law in this matter.
ORDER
Petitioner, Crawford County State Bank,
Land Trust #185,
is granted variance from Rule 962(a) of Chapter
3:
Water
Pollution,
for a sanitary sewer extension to serve a twenty—
four unit apartment complex that will be tributary
to the Mt.
Vernon lift station
#1.
IT
IS SO ORDERED.
I,
Christan
L. Moffett,
Clerk of the Illinois Pollution
Control Board,
hereby certify the above Opinion and Order were
adopted on the
~4
day of
_________________,
1977 by a
vote of
5—O
•
I
Christan L. Moffett~’1erk
Illinois Pollution Control Board
25-406