Will Cnty. v. Vill. of Rockdale

2018 IL App (3d) 160463

121 N.E.3d 468

428 Ill.Dec. 56

WILL COUNTY, Petitioner,

v.The VILLAGE OF ROCKDALE; The Board of Trustees of the Village of Rockdale; Environmental Recycling and Disposal Services, Inc.; and The Illinois Pollution Control Board, Respondents.

Waste Management of Illinois, Inc., Petitioner,

v.The Village of Rockdale; The Board of Trustees of the Village of Rockdale; Environmental Recycling and Disposal Services, Inc.; and The Illinois Pollution Control Board, Respondents.

Appeal Nos. 3-16-0463

3-16-0496

Appellate Court of Illinois, Third District.

Opinion filed July 5, 2018

Modified Upon Denial of Rehearing November 27, 2018

JUSTICE McDADE delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Respondent Environmental Recycling and Disposal Services, Inc. (ERDS), filed a siting application seeking approval for a pollution control transfer station. A hearing on the application was held, and the hearing officer found that ERDS failed to meet certain statutory criteria. Subsequently, the Board of Trustees of the Village of Rockdale (Village Board) conditionally approved the application. Petitioners Will County and Waste Management of Illinois, Inc. (WMI), filed separate petitions requesting the Illinois Pollution Control Board (Pollution Board) to review the Village Board's decision. The petitioners argued that (1) the Village Board lacked jurisdiction and (2) certain statutory criteria under section 39.2(a) were not met. The Pollution Board found that (1) the Village Board had jurisdiction to review the siting application, (2) the amendment to the application was proper, and (3) the Village Board's decision on criteria (i), (ii), (v), and (viii) was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. Petitioners appealed. We affirm.

¶ 2 FACTS

¶ 3 Respondent ERDS operated a refuse hauling business on Moen Avenue in Rockdale, Illinois, which had been in operation for 15 years. It filed a request for siting approval to have a pollution control transfer station in the same area. ERDS sent a notice of a public hearing to nearby landowners, public officials, and entities, including the General Assembly. It also published the notice in the Herald-News . The notice stated that ERDS had sought approval to site a transfer station on Moen Avenue. Specifically, the notice reads:

"NOTICE OF INTENT TO FILE A REQUEST FOR LOCAL SITING APPROVAL OF A NEW POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITY WITH THE VILLAGE OF ROCKDALE, ILLINOIS

YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT, pursuant to § 39.2(b) of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (‘the Act’) 415 ILCS 5/39.2(b), the Applicant, Environmental Recycling and Disposal Services Inc., will file its Request for Siting Approval for a new pollution control facility, the Moen Transfer Station, with the Village of Rockdale, Illinois, 79 Moen Ave., Rockdale, Illinois, 60436, on Dec. 12, 2014. In its request for siting approval, the Applicant will seek approval to site, permit, construct, develop and operate a transfer station as defined by Section 3.500 of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (the ‘Act’) ( 415 ILCS 5/3.500 ), the Moen Transfer Station located generally north of the intersection of Moen Ave. and Gould Court, at 2277 Moen Ave., said location being in the Village of Rockdale, Illinois.

The proposed facility encompasses approximately 2.16 acres, and is legally described as follows:

Parcel 1: [legal description of the property]

Parcel 2: [legal description of the property]

Property address: 2277 Moen Avenue, Joliet, IL 60436

The proposed facility would be a non-hazardous transfer station which will accept non-hazardous waste for temporary storage, consolidation, and further transfer to a waste disposal/treatment facility. The Applicant will develop and operate the transfer station only as approved by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, other applicable regulatory agencies, and as authorized by applicable statutes and regulations. The waste accepted for transfer will be general municipal waste, landscape waste, recyclables and construction and demolition debris generated by residential, commercial and industrial sources. The facility proposes to handle an average 200 tons per day of solid waste. The facility will not accept liquid or hazardous waste. The facility is projected to have an operating life of at least 20 years.

The Applicant is Environmental Recycling and Disposal Services Inc., whose addresses are PO Box 675, Orland Park, Il. 60462, and 2277 Moen Ave., Rockdale, Il. 60436.

On Dec. 12, 2014, the Applicant will file with the Village of Rockdale, Illinois, its Request for Siting Approval. The request will include the substance of the Applicant's proposal and supporting documents.

The Request filed by the Applicants with the Rockdale Village Clerk will be available for your inspection in the Rockdale Village Clerk's Office located at 79 Moen Ave., Rockdale, Illinois, 60438, during normal business hours daily, not including weekends or holidays. Copies of the request or any part thereof will be available from the Rockdale Village Clerk upon payment of the actual cost of reproduction, as outlined in the Illinois Freedom of Information Act ( 5 ILCS 140/1 et seq. )."

¶ 4 In October 2014, ERDS and Will County entered into a host agreement. In December, ERDS filed the siting application. In the application, ERDS stated that the service area for the transfer station includes the northern and western portions of Will County and other adjoining communities. ERDS estimated its service area based on the service area for Prairie View Recycling and Disposal Facility (Prairie View RDF) because it is the primary disposal option for Will County residents and businesses. Relying on the generation and disposal volumes for Will, Kendall, and Grundy Counties, the total population growth in the service area is expected to increase by 62% by 2040.

¶ 5 There are three landfills in the service area: Laraway Recycling and Disposal Facility (Laraway RDF), Environtech Landfill, and Prairie View RDF. The Laraway RDF did not accept municipal solid waste, and Environtech Landfill had about one year of life remaining in its operations. Will County's solid waste management plan (SWMP) and the Prairie View RDF host agreement state that "as much waste as practical" in the service area should be disposed at Prairie View RDF. In one day, Prairie View RDF received 188 loads of disposable waste, 111 of which were loads from transfer trailers. The amount of waste disposed at Prairie View RDF remained consistent from 2007 to 2011 but decreased by 30% from 2011 to 2013.

¶ 6 There are three transfer stations located in the service area: Rockdale Transfer Station, Citiwaste Transfer Station, and Joliet Transfer Station. The Rockdale Transfer Station is located 0.3 miles from the proposed facility and takes only recyclables at around 200 tons per day (TPD). Citiwaste Transfer Station is 4.5 miles east of the proposed facility; receives only clean construction and demolition debris, landscape waste, and recyclables; and takes around 100 TPD. Joliet Transfer Station is 1.25 miles from the proposed facility. The station was accepting between 1000 to 1300 TPD in the past but was currently accepting between 2400 to 3700 TPD. Joliet Transfer Station is the only municipal solid waste transfer station in the service area. An overflow of waste on the tipping floor at the beginning of the operation day had been observed at the station. Also, the station had been observed cutting off trucks waiting in line at the end of the day, and consequently, those trucks are not allowed to dump. There was a capacity shortfall of between 853 to 2046 TPD in the service area because the Joliet station was currently generating more than double the amount of its average volume. The shortfall was based on the difference between the Joliet station's current waste acceptance and its waste acceptance in prior years. It also had been observed to be operating beyond capacity.

¶ 7 The proposed location for the facility is not in a 100-year floodplain and has been operating as a refuse hauling company since 1999. There are no wetlands, archaeological or historical sites, presence of any threatened or endangered species, or wild or scenic rivers in the vicinity. The proposed facility is an 8000-square-foot transfer station with an approximately 6300-square-foot tipping floor. The building will have a drive-through loading pit and will include a scale house and three stormwater detention ponds. The trucks will have access to the proposed facility through Moen Avenue and will have two lanes of traffic. Collection trucks will enter the site and proceed to the scale house to be weighed. Afterward, collection trucks will proceed to unload in the transfer station or wait in the queuing area where the truck will be notified when it can proceed to the unloading area. Two trucks can unload at the same time. Also, transfer trailers will enter the site and wait in the queuing area until they can proceed to the building.

¶ 8 The surface water management system is designed to control and manage runoff from developed areas for a 25-year, 24-hour storm event; manage a 100-year, 24-hour storm event; and control discharge from a 2-year and 100-year critical duration storm event. The plan will "improve the quality of stormwater runoff" from the proposed facility. All detention ponds have small outlet orifices, and the captured water takes over three days to be fully released from the detention ponds. All stormwater from the site drains to one pond equipped with a discharge pipe and a shut-off valve that can be closed in case of a spill at the site. The discharge pipe directs the water into a ditch on Moen Avenue that carries the water through underground drainage ways to the Des Plaines River. The drainage system is designed to meet Illinois and Will County requirements. The stormwater system will comply with the Will County Stormwater Management Ordinance (Stormwater...