ILLINOIS

POLLUTION

CONT?OL

LOAN:?

October 16, 1975

MR.

AND

MRS.

ROOSEVELT

NIXON,

JR.

Petitioners,

)

PCB 75—354

ENVIRONMENTAL

PROTECTION AGENCY,

Respondent.

OPINION

~

ORDER OF THE BOARD

(by Mr.

Zeitlin):

Petitioners,

Mr. and Mrs.

Roosevelt Nixon,

Jr.

,

filed

a

PetItion

for Variance on September 10,

1975,

seeking relief

from

Order No,

7

in

the case of League of Women Voters

v.

North

Shore

Sanitary

District, PCB 70—7,

12,

13 and 14,

I

POD

3C~, 396~71.

TeAgency

Recommendation in this

matter

was

filed on September

29,

1975.

No hearing was held

in

this

matter.

Petitioners

were first affected by

the

North Shore

Sanitary

District

sewer ban when that Order was entered

on

Auqust

31,

1971.

In

August,

1975,

Petitioners purchased

pro:)erty

in

North

Chicago,

expecting

that

the sewer ban

would

be

lifted.

Petitioners

seek

permission

to build a

single-family

residence

on

the newly purchased property.

The

hardship

claimed by Petitioners

is

largely

financial,

Petitioners claim that

they

are

eligible for

government

loans which are available

to individuals

in

certain income brackets,

and that,

if

they are not allowed

to

proceed soon with construction

of

a new

home,

they will

not

be

able to obtain such government assistance.

In

addition,

Petitioners claim that their

present

3~:oee~oom

townhouse

is overcrowded.

Petitioners have three

children,

ages 13,

11, and

8.

The Agency Recommendation states that the hardship

alleged

by Petitioners might not normally be considered

sufficiently extreme to justify a Variance.

However, the

Agency

points

out that the grant of

this

Variance will have

a

minimal

impact,

in

that the problems of overflow at the

North

Chicago

sewage

treatment plant of the North Shore

Sanitary

District

have been eliminated by the construction

a

combined

over—flow retention basin system, which was

comoleted

in

January,

1975,

The

Agency also points out the

:Jact

that

flows

at

the

North

Chicago

sewage treatment plant

hive

been

within

tnat

p1ant~s

treatmen-~. ca~acity,

and

that

~f:pi~ic~n~:

from

the

North

Chicaqo

sewage

treatment

plant

have

ceen

within

the

limits

set

by

its

NPDES

permit.

---

It also appears

from the Agency Recommendation that the

effluent of the

North

Chicago

plant

will

be diverted to the

North Shore

Sanitary District~snew Gurnee plant, which is

scheduled

for

completion

in

November,

1975.

After that time,

discharges

from

the

North

Chicago

plant

into Lake Michigan

will be

eliminated.

That being the case,

it would appear

that the grant

of this Variance would

not

contravene the

purposes of

the North Shore Sanitary District sewer ban:

the protection

of Lake Michigan.

1 PCB at 385.

The Agency

also notes that the sewers

to which Petitioners’

proposed home will

be connected are not subject to overflow,

bypassing,

or

backup.

Such backup or sewer overflows have been

important

in

past

Board

decisions

in

sewer

ban

Variances.

We agree with the Agency that the hardship present here

is minimal;

however, any damage to the environment,

or to

public

health,

which might result from the construction of

Petitioners’

new

home

is essentially nil.

The Gurnee plant

will,

according to

the Agency Recommendation,

be on line

before

construction of Petitioners~ new home

is complete.

There is

no reason that this Variance cannot be granted.

This Opinion

constitutes the findings of fact and

ORDER

Petitioners,

Mr.

and Mrs. Roosevelt Nixon,

Jr., are

ranted

a Variance

from Order No.

7

in League of Women

Voters

v.

North Shore Sanitary DistrictT~CB 70-7,

12, 13,

a~ 1,

to allow a sewer connection for the construction

of

a single—family

residence on the following property:

Lots

13, 14, and

15 in Block 112

in South

Waukegan, being

a subdivision of the West

half of the Southwest Quarter of Section 32,

Township

45

North,

Range

12,

East

of

the

3rd

P.M.

and

the

West

half

of

the

Northwest

Quarter

of

Section

5,

Township

44

North,

Range

12,

East

of

the

3rd

P.M.

in

Lake

County, Illinois.

I, Christan L.

Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

Control Board, hereby certify the above Opinion and

Order

were

adopted on the

/~

day of

___________,

1975 by a

VOte

of

~

Mr.

Young

abstained.

~

/

~

Illinois Pollution

Control Bc

19— 113