ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

November 1, 1973

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY,

Complainant,

v.

)

PCB 7~—lO3

WILLIAMSBURG ESTATES, INC., an

Illinois corporation,

Respondent.

Steven Bonaguidi, Assistant Attorney General for the Agency

Theodore N. Schnell, Jr., Attorney for Respondent

OPINION AND ORDER OF THE BOARD (by Mr. Henss)

Respondent owns and operates a housing subdivision known as

Williamsburg Estates Unit No. 3 in Bartlett, DuPage County,

Illinois. On March 9, 1973, the Environmental Protection Agency

filed Complaint alleging that Respondent had, without permit,

installed 1,150 feet of 8~sanitary sewer serving lots 2, 4, 8, 9,

10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 in this subdivision. The Agency

charges that this installation was done in violation of Section 12(b)

of the Environmental Protection Act and Chapter 19, Section 145.11

Illinois Revised Statutes (1969), the terms of which are continued

in effect pursuant to Section 49(b) of the Act.

At the public hearing, the parties submitted a Stipulation

for Settlement in leiu of testimony. No members of the public

appeared at the hearing.

According to the Stipulation, the following events preceeded

the filing of the Complaint:

February 26, 1968   

W. A. Rakow and Associates,

engineers for Williamsburg Estates,

Inc., made application to the

Metropolitan Sanitary District (MSD)

for installation of an 8” sanitary

sewer line, 1,150 feet in length to

serve Unit No. 3.

April 16, 1969    

Rakow and Associates filed a similar

permit application with the Sanitary

Water Board (SWB).

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703

—2—

April 28, 1969     

SWB acknowledged receipt of the

application and stated the permit

would be granted only upon MSD

certification that the receiving

sewage treatment system could

handle the flow of sewage.

May 23, 1969      

SWB further advised Rakow and

Associates that unless MSD authori-

zation was obtained, the permit c:o

be issued would specify “install

only” and that subsequent operation

of the system would depend upon

“demonstration that the sewage

treatment facilities have available

capacity to provide adequate treatment

of existing and proposed flows”.

Date Unknown     

Sewer line installed prior to issuance

of any permit.

May 6, 1971      

Williamsburg Estates, Inc.., without

realizing that permits had not been

granted, placed the sewer line into

operation by connecting one of the

residences in Unit 3 to the sewer

line, (No further hook ons of

residences were made until permits

were obtained from the EPA.)

June 22, 1971     

—

Agency placed Bartlett sewage treat-

ment plant on critical review.

September 2, 8, 1971 

Agency field investigators learn of

the installation and apparently

notified Respondent of apparent

violation.

November 8, 1971   

—

Rakow and Associates request permit

to operate sewer connections to serve

Lots #8, 9, 16, 18, 19 and 20.

November 10, 1971   

Agency formally notified Respondents

Rakow and Associates and the 

Village

of Bartlett offiz~iais 

that the

Agency was considering an enforcement

action on the apparent violation.

—3—

November 24, 1971   

—

Respondent replied to the Agency

“warning letter” stating that

the Agency investigation was

apparently correct but that

Respondent, having assumed Rakow

and Associates had secured all

required permits, had proceeded

unaware that the required permits

had not been issued. Respondent

pointed out that it would not have

invested almost 1/3 of a million

dollars if it had known the permit had

not been issued.

December 10, 1971   

—

Agency issued permits for operation

of sewer systems for Lots 8, 9, 16, 18;

19 and 20 only in Unit #3.

June 28, 1972     

—

Rakow and Associates request permit

to operate sewer connections for

18 additional lots in Unit 3.

August 18, 1972    

Agency issued supplementary permit

to Village of Bartlett officials to

allow service for Lots 1 to 7, 10

to 15, 17 and 21 to 24 only, in

accordance with the June 28, 1972

letter submitted by Rakow and

Associates.

Finally, the Stipulation provides that: “The Board may find that

Williamsburg Estates, Inc.. .installed and operated the above described

sanitary sewer line and appurtenances thereto without a permit in

violation of 12(b) of the Environmental Protection Act.”

The parties recommend that we impose a monetary penalty in the

amount of $1,000. The Stipulation is not to be effective unless

wholly approved by us. We find the proposed Stipulation for

settlement a reasonable resolution. No damage was done to the

environment. It is apparent that Respondent did not intend to

violate the law. We find that Respondent violated 

12(b) of the

Act and we assess a monetary penalty of $1,000.

ORDER

It is the order of the Board that Williamsburg Estates, Inc.

shall pay to the State of Illinois by December 1.5, 1973 the sum

of $1,000 as penalty for the violations found in this proceeding.

Penalty payment by certified check or money order payable to the

State of Illinois shall be made 

to:

Fiscal Services Division,

Illinois EPA, 2200 Churchill Road, Springfield, Illinois 62706.

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—4—

I, Christan L. Moffett, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control

Board, he~ebycertify the above Opinion and Orde was adopted

this ~  day off 

1973 by a vote of ___to~

— 706