ILLINOIS POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD
    October 5, 2006
    ATKINSON LANDFILL CO.,
    Petitioner,
    v.
    THE VILLAGE OF ATKINSON and THE
    VILLAGE BOARD OF THE VILLAGE OF
    ATKINSON,
    Respondents.
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    PCB 07-20
    (Pollution Control Facility Siting
    Appeal)
    ORDER OF THE BOARD (by G.T. Girard):
    On September 28, 2006, Atkinson Landfill Company (Landfill Company) filed a petition
    requesting the Board to review the special conditions imposed in Resolution No. 185 dated
    August 28, 2006 adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Atkinson (Village). In the
    resolution, the Village granted the Landfill Company’s March 6, 2006 application for horizontal
    and vertical expansion of its existing landfill. For the reasons set forth below, the Board accepts
    the petition for hearing.
    Section 40.1(a) of the Environmental Protection Act (Act) (415 ILCS 5/40.1(a) (2004))
    authorizes the Landfill Company’s appeal to the Board. Resolution 185 contains five Special
    Conditions. The Landfill Company challenges four of the five Special Conditions on both
    procedural and substantive grounds. The Landfill Company challenges the content of the four
    conditions that require, in brief: (1) a maximum height limit for the vertical expansion; (2)
    amendment of the Village Host Agreement to increase fees, or otherwise offset “the additional
    burden placed upon the general public”; (3) amendment of the Village Host Agreement to
    provide a "property protection plan to all residences in the Village; and (4) replacement of any
    damaged, destroyed or removed off-site visual buffer vegetation or creation of replacement on-
    site visual buffering. (The Landfill Company does not challenge the fifth special condition
    requiring compliance with Resolution No. 178 adopted August 23, 1999.) Petition at 1, 4, para.
    15.
    As a first procedural point, the Landfill Company asks the Board to deem the application
    for site location approval approved by operation of law due to the Village’s failure to take timely
    action as required by Section 39.2(e) of the Act. 415 ILCS 5/39.2(e) (2004). The Landfill
    Company contends that “the decision deadline is September 4, 2006” and there has been no final
    action regarding Special Conditions [
    e.g
    ., increase in host fees not specified].” Petition at 6,
    para. 21.
    Next, the Landfill Company contends that each of the challenged Special Conditions is a
    result of fundamental unfairness in the proceedings. Among other things, the Landfill Company
    2
    charges the Special Conditions were adopted as a result of
    ex parte
    contacts, at an improper
    private closed door meeting in violation of the Village’s siting ordinance, based on an
    insufficient record, after application of an incorrect burden of proof and improper standards and
    criteria. Petition at 7, para. 22.
    As to the conditions’ substance, the Landfill Company contends each of the four
    challenged conditions is “unduly prejudicial and invalid” for one or more reasons including that
    the conditions are neither reasonable nor necessary to accomplish the purposes of Section 39.2 of
    the Act (415 ILCS 5/39.2(a) (2004)), are an abuse of discretion, are otherwise invalid, and are
    not based on the nine criteria a local siting authority must consider when deciding whether to
    grant siting to a pollution control facility (415 ILCS 5/39.2(a) (2004)). Petition at 5-6, para. 20.
    The Board accepts the petition for hearing. The Landfill Company has the burden of
    proof. 415 ILCS 5/40.1(a) (2004);
    see also
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 105.506. Hearings will be based
    exclusively on the record before the Village. 415 ILCS 5/40.1(a) (2004). Hearings will be
    scheduled and completed in a timely manner, consistent with the decision deadline (
    see
    415
    ILCS 5/40.1(a) (2004)), which only the Landfill Company may extend by waiver (35 Ill. Adm.
    Code 107.504;
    see also
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 101.308). If the Board fails to take final action by the
    decision deadline, the Landfill Company “may deem the site location approved.” 415 ILCS
    5/40.1(a) (2004). Currently, the decision deadline is January 26, 2007 (the 120th day after
    September 28, 2006).
    See
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 107.504. The Board meeting immediately before
    the decision deadline is scheduled for January 18, 2007.
    The Village must file the entire record of its proceedings within 21 days after the date of
    this order. The record must comply with the content and certification requirements of 35 Ill.
    Adm. Code 107.304, 107.308. The Landfill Company must pay to the Village the cost of
    preparing and certifying the record. 415 ILCS 5/39.2(n) (2004); 35 Ill. Adm. Code 107.306;
    see
    also
    35 Ill. Adm. Code 107.502(b).
    IT IS SO ORDERED.
    I, Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk of the Illinois Pollution Control Board, certify that the Board
    adopted the above order on October 5, 2006, by a vote of 4-0.
    Dorothy M. Gunn, Clerk
    Illinois Pollution Control Board

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