ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

September

20,

1973

I

EUGENE THOMPSON,

)

i

Petitioner,

3

PCB

73—274

v.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

)

I

Respondent.

)

I

OPINION AND ORDER OF

THE

BOARD

(by Mr. Seaman)

On July

5,

1973,

Petitioner, Eugene Thompson, the owner

I

of certain land located in North Chicago, County of Lake,

Illinois, filed his Petition for Variance.

Petitioner

requests a variance from Order No.

7 of League of Women

Voters v. North Shore Sanitary District, PCB 70-7,

12,

13

and 14 to obtain

a sewer connection for a single family

dwelling tributary to the North Chicago Sewage Treatment

Plant.

I

Petitioner alleges that

he

owns certain land in North

I

Chicago upon which he intends to build a home.

Petitioner

is presently residing in a one-bedroom apartment with his

I

wife and three-year-old child.

Petitioner’s sole argument

is

as follows:

I

This

is not good for the child nor us.

Living

in an apartment puts limitations and pressures on

all of us.

Our child can~tproperly engage in the

activities that are essential for normal growth

and development.

It is very hard to keep a child

of that age from disturbing the other tenants.

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He can’t play outside because, there

is no yard

for him to play in.

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This

is the substance of

the

one—page Petition, which

I

is in many respects so deficient and incomplete that the

Board cannot find sufficient allegations upon which a

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reasoned decision can be made.

We

must,

therefore,

dismiss

the

Petition without prejudice.

9— 311

---

A variance from

a sewer

ban

may be appropriate when

a particular petitioner is experiencing extremely un-

favorable living conditions

with

no viable alternative

I

solutions.

(McAdams v.

Environmental Protection Agency,

PCB 71-113,

Pena

v.

Environmental Protection Agency,

PCB 71—253)

.

The McAdams family, consisting of four

persons, resided in

a one—bedroom apartment which

the

family had been asked to vacate.

The Penn family lived

I

in a small apartment which was subject to vandalism,

floodinq and rodent infestation.

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Here, Petitioner has failed to allege the absence of

I

viable alternative solutions.

Petitioner is urged to

familiarize himself with Rule 401 of the Procedural Rules

I

of the Illinois Pollution Control Board and consider

Marc Baron v.

Environmental Protection Agency

(PCB 73-195)

I

and Bereskin v. Environmental Protection Agency

(PCB 73-143),

although l3ereskin pertained

to the Clavey Road sewage

I

Treatment Plant.

This Opinion constitutes the findings of fact and

I

conclusions of law of the Board.

ORDER

I

IT IS

THE

ORDER of the Pollution Control Board that

the Petition of Eugene Thompson be dismissed without

prejudice.

Mr. Marder abstains.

I

1, Christan

L. Moffett,

Clerk of the Illinois Pollution

I

Control Board, certify that the above Opinion and Order

was adopted by the Board on the

c~

day of

,

I

1973, by

a vote of

4./

to