AGENCY STATEMENT CONCERNING GROUNDWATER ORDINANCES
REVIEWED FOR INSTITUTIONAL CONTROLS USING
RADII/CIRCLES
TO DEFINE LIMITED AREA PROHIBITIONS
(December 28, 2010)
Limited area groundwater ordinance prohibitions reviewed for use as environmental institutional
controls and defined entirely or in part by radii and circles recently have received additional scrutiny by the
Division of Legal Counsel reviewers. Limited area prohibitions are those that do not apply throughout the
entire jurisdiction of the adopting unit of local government. Illinois Pollution Control Board rules require
limited area prohibitions to be easily identifiable and clearly defined. Any prohibition defined entirely
or in part by a radius and circle must have a single, clearly identifiable, permanent (i.e., fixed and unchanging)
point of reference from which the radius of the circle can be measured throughout the life of the institutional control.
Radii purporting to extend from any descriptor other than a clearly identifiable, permanent point of reference cannot
be determined with acceptable precision (e.g., radii purporting to extend from an area or multiple points such
as "a property", a common address, or the "boundary" of a property). In the absence of a single, identifiable,
permanent point of departure for the measurement of the radius, outer boundaries of the prohibition area could vary
significantly in a context where a relatively few feet may make the difference between compliance and noncompliance
with regulatory requirements.
Ordinances using the radius/circle approach to define all or part of an area of prohibition will be evaluated and
approved or rejected on a site-specific basis. However, if the point of departure for determining the radius is not
clearly identifiable and permanent, approval of the ordinance is unlikely. Questions concerning ordinances used as
institutional controls may be directed to the Agency's Division of Legal Counsel at (217) 782-5544.
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