ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    October 11,
    1973
    WADELL BROOKS,
    SR.,
    )
    Petitioner,
    PCB 73—261
    V.
    ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,
    Respondent.
    OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD
    (BY MR. DUMELLE)
    Petitioner filed
    a Petition for Variance on June
    25,
    1973,
    which sought relief from Order
    #7 of League of Women Voters v.
    North Shore Sanitary District, PCB 70-7,
    12,
    13 and
    14,
    in
    order to obtain a sewer connection permit fora proposed day
    care center to be located in Lake County,
    in the 1900 Block
    of Sherman Avenue,
    in North Chicago
    In an interim Order dated
    June 28,
    1973,
    the Pollution Control Board
    (Board)
    gave Petitione:
    30 days to amend his petition and provide additional information.
    The amended petition was received by the Board on July 16,
    1973.
    The Environmental Protection Agency
    (Agency)
    filed a recornmendatic
    on September 18,
    1973,
    to grant the variance.
    No hearing was
    heid.
    Petitioner alleges that a denial would cause the working
    class mothers in the North Chicago area to be subjected
    to a
    hardship due to
    a shortage of day care facilities in the area
    which, at present, restricts employment opportunities for these
    members.
    Petitioner states that the Department of Children and
    Family Services are eager for the Center
    to be built.
    The day care center connection would be a tributary to the
    North Shore Sanitary District’z North Chicago sewage treatrtent.
    plant, which during high
    flows, by-passes chlorinated raw
    sewage
    into Lake Michigan.
    The plant’s Monthly Operational Reports
    indicate that the effluent exceeds the BOD and Suspended Solids
    standards.
    The North Chicago plant’s effluent will be diverted
    to the proposed Gurnee sewage treatment plant.
    The Agency states
    that the Gurnee plant is significantly behind the scheduled
    February,
    1974 completion date.
    Petitioner states that the proposed
    center would serve approximately 100 children, the majority of
    which reside in North Chicago.
    The Agency calculated that the
    center would contribute a hydraulic population equivalent
    (P.E.)
    of
    20.
    9— 463
    —2—
    The Board finds that Petition should be granted
    a
    variance from the sewer ban order because his proposed
    connection will not result in a net increase in the hydraulic
    load
    to the North Chicago plant because the people using the
    center
    are from the area already serviced by the plant.
    See e.g.
    Lake County School District #64
    v. Environmental
    Protection Agency,
    i-~u~
    71-313,
    382; New nope
    Ni~siuuuLy
    Baptist Church v. Environmental Protection Agency, PCB 72-417;
    and
    Foss Park District v. Environmental Protection Agency,
    PCB 72-447, respectively.
    The
    Board further finds that the hardship to the general
    public, especially working class mothers in the North Chicago
    area,
    if the variance is denied,
    is far greater than the
    hardship to the community if the variance
    was
    granted because
    of
    the insignificant additional
    load.
    See e.g. Trepauier
    V.
    Environmental Protection Agency, PCB 73-203; NilI~rv. Environmental
    Protection Agency, PCB 73-43; and Bartell
    v. Environmental
    Protection Agency, PCB 72-382.
    The above consists of the Board~sfinding of fact and
    crnclusions
    of
    law.
    ORDER
    The Pollution Control Board hereby grants the Petitioner
    a variance to allow a sewer connection for his proposed day
    care center.
    I, Christan Moffett,
    Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control
    Board, certify that the above Opinion and Order was adopted
    on the
    1/
    ~
    day of
    ~J~a)
    ,
    1973, by
    a vote of
    ______
    to
    ~
    .
    9— 464

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