Division of Transportation Tony Evers, Governor System Development Craig Thompson, Secretary Northeast Regional Office Internet: www.dot.wisconsin.gov 944 Vanderperren Way Green Bay, WI 54304 Telephone: (920)492-5643 Facsimile (Fax): (920)492-5640 E-mail: [email protected] October 15, 2020 Mr. Glenn Fulkerson, Division Administrator Federal Highway Administration 525 Junction Road, Suite 8000 Madison, WI 53717 RE: Project I.D. 4556-02-00 South Bridge Connector County EB/F to County GV/X Brown County Public Hearing Certification- Tier 1 Draft Environmental Impact Statement Dear Mr. Fulkerson, This letter is to provide WisDOT’s formal certification concerning the South Bridge Connector public hearing in accordance with 23 USC 128 and 23 CFR 771.111(h)(2)(vi). The public hearings for the Tier 1 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was held virtually online on July 7, 2020 and in-person on July 8, 2020. The public hearing record is transmitted electronically along with this certification letter and contains the following information: Transcript – Public hearing proceedings, public and private verbal testimony Hearing notices and news releases Hearing handouts and displays Hearing sign-in sheets PowerPoint Presentation Hearing written and verbal testimony Tier 1 Draft EIS Signed Cover Sheet As documented in the hearing record, WisDOT afforded an opportunity to attend the public hearing that considered the economic and social effects of the proposed project, its impacts on the environment, and its consistency with the goals and objectives of regional and local planning. The virtual public hearing was held via YouTube Live on July 7, 2020. The in-person public hearing was held July 8, 2020 at the Brown County Fairgrounds. The hearings were open to anyone desiring to comment on the document. The Tier 1 Draft EIS which was the basis for the public hearing was made available to the public beginning on June 19, 2020 and copies of the document were available for viewing during the public hearings, on the project website, and in-person. The comment period ended on August 3, 2020. Comments needed to be received or postmarked by August 3, 2020 to be included in the public hearing record. The Tier 1 Draft EIS documents the social, environmental and other effects of the location and design of the proposed project, as well as the various alternatives that were presented and considered at the public hearing. Please contact me if you have any questions or need additional information. Sincerely, Bryan Lipke, P.E. WisDOT Northeast Region Project Manager (920) 492-5703 [email protected] cc: Ian Chidister, FHWA Jonquil Johnson, WisDOT Jay Waldschmidt, WisDOT Cole Runge, Brown County PUBLIC HEARING RECORD LOCATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS AND NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENT FOR IDENTIFYING A CORRIDOR FOR THE SOUTH BRIDGE CONNECTOR BETWEEN COUNTY EB/F IN THE TOWN OF LAWRENCE AND COUNTY GV/X IN THE TOWN OF LEDGEVIEW BROWN COUNTY PROJECT I.D. 4556-02-00 HELD JULY 7 AND 8, 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Transcript of Hearing from the Court Reporter 1a Transcript from Virtual Hearing July 7, 2020 1b Transcript from In-Person Hearing July 8, 2020 2 Legal Notice of Availability and Public Hearing 3 Public Hearing Handout 4 Hearing Sign-In Sheets 5 Photographs of Hearing Display Exhibits 6 PowerPoint Presentation 7 Written and Verbal Testimony received or postmarked by August 3, 2020 8 Tier 1 Draft Environmental Impact Statement Signed Cover Sheet* *The Environmental Document is on file in the WisDOT Northeast Region Files for Project 4556- 02-00. 1. Transcript of Hearing from the Court Reporter a Transcript from Virtual Hearing July 7, 2020 b Transcript from In-Person Hearing July 8, 2020 1 WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 2 BROWN COUNTY, WISCONSIN 3 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION 4 ------------------------------------------------------ 5 VIRTUAL PUBLIC HEARING 6 for 7 TIER 1 DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT 8 SOUTH BRIDGE CONNECTOR 9 County EB/F in the Town of Lawrence and 10 County GV/X in the Town of Ledgeview 11 Brown County 12 Project ID: 4556-02-00 13 Number of People in Attendance: 78 14 ------------------------------------------------------ 15 Wisconsin Department of Transportation/Brown 16 County, Wisconsin/Federal Highway Administration 17 Virtual Public Hearing via YouTube Live, taken upon 18 published notice before Carrie Bohrer, RPR, RMR, CRR, 19 a Notary Public in and for the State of Wisconsin, and 20 private testimony taken by Christie Wydeven, RPR, RMR, 21 Notary Public in and for the State of Wisconsin, at 22 the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 23 944 Vanderperren Way, Green Bay, Wisconsin, on the 24 7th day of July, 2020, commencing at 6:00 p.m. and 25 ending at 8:00 p.m. 1 DOT PUBLIC HEARING ON SOUTH BRIDGE CONNECTOR JULY 7, 2020 1 CHAIRPERSON 2 Cole Runge Brown County Planning & Land Services Department 3 4 FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 5 Bryan Lipke - WisDOT Northeast Region 6 Melissa Kok - WisDOT Northeast Region 7 Kathie VanPrice - WisDOT Northeast Region 8 Jill Michaelson - WisDOT Northeast Region 9 Scott Ebel - WisDOT Northeast Region 10 Jay Waldschmidt - WisDOT Central Office 11 Rudy King - WisDOT Central Office 12 13 FROM BROWN COUNTY 14 Nick Uitenbroek - Brown County Public Works Department 15 Paul A. Fontecchio, P.E. - 16 Brown County Public Works Department 17 18 FROM JACOBS 19 Charlie Webb, Senior Project Manager 20 Kelly Rehberg, Environmental Planner 21 22 23 24 25 2 920-432-5662 BAY REPORTING SERVICE, INC. 800-424-2224 414 S. Jefferson St.,Green Bay, WI DOT PUBLIC HEARING ON SOUTH BRIDGE CONNECTOR JULY 7, 2020 1 I N D E X P A G E 2 3 VIRTUAL PUBLIC TESTIMONY 4 (None) 5 6 VIRTUAL PRIVATE TESTIMONY 7 • BY KATHY PEETERS 8 9 10 --------------------------------------------- 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 920-432-5662 BAY REPORTING SERVICE, INC. 800-424-2224 414 S. Jefferson St.,Green Bay, WI DOT PUBLIC HEARING ON SOUTH BRIDGE CONNECTOR JULY 7, 2020 1 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 2 CHAIRPERSON: Welcome. My name is 3 Cole Runge, Interim Director of the Brown County 4 Planning Commission. I will be serving as the 5 Hearing Chairperson. Thank you for attending 6 this Virtual Public Hearing. 7 Other project team members that will be 8 participating include: 9 • Bryan Lipke, project manager, the 10 Wisconsin Department of Transportation 11 • Charlie Webb, the Jacobs Project Manager 12 and 13 • Several other Brown County and Wisconsin 14 DOT staff who will be monitoring email and phone 15 calls to answer questions and help people 16 provide verbal testimony. 17 This Virtual Public Hearing will end when 18 all interested persons have provided testimony 19 or at 8:00 p.m., whichever occurs first. 20 We will be providing contact information 21 throughout the Virtual Public Hearing, so please 22 have paper and pencil ready to write things 23 down. Much of the contact information is 24 already available on the project website and in 25 the Public Hearing Packet on the project website 4 920-432-5662 BAY REPORTING SERVICE, INC. 800-424-2224 414 S. Jefferson St.,Green Bay, WI DOT PUBLIC HEARING ON SOUTH BRIDGE CONNECTOR JULY 7, 2020 1 as well. 2 If you prefer not to or cannot view the 3 Virtual Public Hearing through YouTube Live, you 4 may use the listen-only line we have established 5 for this Virtual Public Hearing by calling 6 (920)385-5851, conference ID 91959483#. 7 To get the most accurate accounting of those 8 participating in the Virtual Public Hearing, we 9 ask that you send an email to 10 [email protected] which 11 includes your name, address including 12 City/State/Zip Code, Phone Number, and if 13 applicable, if you are representing yourself, 14 someone else, or a group. 15 Please note that the information provided 16 (including names, addresses, phone numbers and 17 email addresses) is not confidential, and may be 18 subject to disclosure upon request, pursuant to 19 the requirements of the Wisconsin Open Records 20 Law, Sections 19.31 to 19.39 of the Wisconsin 21 Statutes. 22 Before proceeding further, I would like to 23 introduce the court reporters, Christie Wydeven 24 and Carrie Bohrer, who are taking down these 25 proceedings for the official public hearing 5 920-432-5662 BAY REPORTING SERVICE, INC. 800-424-2224 414 S. Jefferson St.,Green Bay, WI DOT PUBLIC HEARING ON SOUTH BRIDGE CONNECTOR JULY 7, 2020 1 record and recording your public and private 2 verbal testimony. If you would like to obtain a 3 copy of the transcript of this Public Hearing, 4 you should make the request through the 5 information we provide on the project website 6 and in the Public Hearing Packet found on the 7 project website as well. 8 Materials presented tonight and other 9 information to assist you in forming comments 10 and testimony about the proposed project 11 including: Public Hearing exhibits, Public 12 Hearing Packet, the Tier 1 Draft Environmental 13 Impact Statement, presentation slides, and 14 project contact information are also available 15 on the website and by request. 16 This Virtual Public Hearing is being 17 recorded for the official project record. The 18 Virtual Public Hearing recording will be posted 19 on the WisDOT YouTube page and a link will be 20 included on the project website. 21 If you do not have access to the project 22 website and would like to obtain a copy of 23 specific portions of this Virtual Public Hearing 24 or other project materials, please contact me, 25 Cole Runge, at 6 920-432-5662 BAY REPORTING SERVICE, INC.