1
1 PUBLIC HEARINGS
2
IN RE: DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL )
3 IMPACT STATEMENT AND DRAFT )
SECTION 4 (F) STATEMENT )
4 )
SOUTH AND EAST BELTWAYS, )
5 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA )
PROJECT NO. DPU-3300(1) )
6
7
8
9
10
11
Hearings held April 23 and 24, 2001, at the
12 Lincoln Berean Church, 6400 S. 70th Street,
Hearing Room 2, Lincoln, Nebraska
13
14
15
16 A P P E A R A N C E S
17
HEARING OFFICER: MS. JILL POST
18 The Mediation Center
1120 K Street, Suite 200
19 Lincoln, NE 68508
20
21
22
23
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
2
1 WITNESS: PAGE
2 BLAYDE KEEL 3
12500 S. 38th
3 Roca, NE 68430
4 CHAD KEEL 5
848 N. 68th Street
5 Omaha, NE 68132
6 LARRY FUERST 7
821 Hazelwood Drive
7 Lincoln, NE 68510
8 KEVIN DUGAN 13
2612 Southwood Place
9 Lincoln, NE 68512
10 MARLA REITER 22
640 Harrison
11 Bennet, NE 68317
12 JO GUTGSELL 23
2103 B Street
13 Lincoln, NE 68502
14 ELEANOR FRANCKE 25
3900 S. 148th Street
15 Walton, NE 68461
16 RONALD WILHELM 26
1211 Cessna Circle
17 Lincoln, NE 68527
18 ROBERT PRIEL 29
20895 S. 68th Street
19 Hickman, NE 68372
20
21
22
23
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
3
1 (At 8:55 a.m. on April 24, 2001, with
2 Hearing Officer Jill Post, Witness Blayde Keel and
3 the court reporter being present, the following
4 testimony was given:)
5 HEARING OFFICER POST: I'm ready. It will
6 be recorded, and then -- you want to state your
7 name, and spell your last name.
8 BLAYDE KEEL: My name is Blayde Keel,
9 B-l-a-y-d-e K-e-e-l, and this is concerning a piece
10 of property that's half mile south of Saltillo on
11 38th Street. And there's a house on the property,
12 and the right of way is, like on the map upstairs,
13 is right in our living room. You know, the -- and
14 it's got to do not with the highway itself, but an
15 access road.
16 And I think that the access road needs to
17 be moved like south, the entrance. Because we have
18 property south of there, and then there's property
19 across the road. It would impact our place much
20 less if the access road were south of our house
21 rather than right below our house. Because if
22 they -- with the right of way being right in the
23 middle of your house, even if they moved the right
24 of way over a little bit it's still going to cut
25 into our yard. And it's one of the parts of our
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
4
1 property that we'd like to maintain, because it's
2 where the house is at. Further down, it would only
3 impact a field or something like that.
4 I don't know if there's anything else,
5 because mostly that's what the situation is. I just
6 don't want to move the house, and I don't want the
7 thing near the house. You know, I want it further
8 away from the house than where it's at. Okay?
9 HEARING OFFICER POST: Okay.
10 BLAYDE KEEL: All right, thank you.
11 HEARING OFFICER POST: Thank you.
12 (Testimony concluded at 8:56 a.m.)
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
5
1 (At 9:31 a.m. on April 24, 2001, with
2 Hearing Officer Jill Post, Witness Chad Keel and the
3 court reporter being present, the following
4 testimony was given:)
5 HEARING OFFICER POST: Hi.
6 CHAD KEEL: Hi.
7 HEARING OFFICER POST: Would you like to
8 give some testimony or submit written testimony?
9 CHAD KEEL: We just want to let people know
10 what our concerns are with this.
11 HEARING OFFICER POST: She'd like you to
12 spell your last name.
13 CHAD KEEL: K-e-e-l, Chad. C-h-a-d.
14 HEARING OFFICER POST: And you can just say
15 whatever you want. You could probably go for a long
16 time.
17 CHAD KEEL: Okay. The concern is that one
18 of their access roads on the map matches up exactly
19 with the driveway of our front house, which means
20 that the access road comes right up into our front
21 yard. Then the right of way takes the front yard
22 away. They haven't scheduled our house to be taken,
23 but it does mean that the front yard would be gone.
24 And as they're describing it to me, the house would
25 be sitting right on the right of way, and we would
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
6
1 like them to stay further to the west of our house,
2 so that our front yard stays exactly as it is.
3 And my concern is that they won't want to
4 do that, because if you go to the west, you drop
5 down into a bottom land that would require a lot of
6 filling. I'm afraid that they're going to want to
7 stay on the edge of that terrace that the house and
8 the existing road are placed on. But we really
9 think our house would be pretty useless without a
10 front yard. But we'd rather leave it on the edge of
11 it. And that's it. That's the concern. Okay.
12 HEARING OFFICER POST: Thanks for coming
13 by.
14 CHAD KEEL: Thank you.
15 (Testimony concluded at 9:35 a.m.)
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
7
1 (At 10:05 a.m. on April 24, 2001, with
2 Hearing Officer Jill Post, Witness Larry Fuerst and
3 the court reporter being present, the following
4 testimony was given:)
5 LARRY FUERST: My wife did pick up some
6 material last night, gave me a chance to kind of
7 look some of these things over.
8 HEARING OFFICER POST: You're aware of the
9 fact you can also submit written testimony.
10 LARRY FUERST: Yes, I could submit.
11 HEARING OFFICER POST: You have until the
12 14th of May to do that.
13 LARRY FUERST: Okay. My wife and I --
14 HEARING OFFICER POST: Would you state your
15 name?
16 LARRY FUERST: Oh. I'm Larry Fuerst, my
17 wife is Carol, F-u-e-r-s-t. My wife is Carol. And
18 we're moving from Wedgewood area out to 112th, south
19 of 112th.
20 So I guess one of the reasons we moved out
21 there was because we were attracted by, you know,
22 more of a rural environment, and kind of an open
23 setting and whatnot. But I think the thing that
24 kind of gets my attention is the fact that we were
25 really attracted by the Stevens Creek basin
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
8
1 development. So I cut that out when it was in the
2 paper a while back, because so many of the points
3 that were made in here were what was really
4 desirable to us and really attracted us to that area
5 in the first place.
6 And it just seemed to me as I read this
7 that finally the city of Lincoln is expanding with
8 some real planning behind it, and it can serve as a
9 model for other expansions. So many cities are
10 expanding -- it's just, you know, more houses, more
11 apartments, and more commercial buildings -- where
12 here, it looked like they were really trying to put
13 a nice plan in an orderly fashion to the growth of
14 the city.
15 And I really thought that the Beltway seems
16 to fly just directly in the face of this. Because
17 as we go down all of these points, at least the
18 close proximity of the Beltway would cut the heart
19 right out of the basin. The Stevens Creek basin
20 development, it goes directly right through it. So
21 it crosses over the -- right directly through the
22 flood plain, it crosses over the wetlands area, it
23 crosses over streams, it crosses over two railroads.
24 I mean, it just -- you'd just as well throw this
25 away.
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
9
1 So it seems to me we've got a group that's
2 working on something like this, a nice orderly
3 growth for the city, and not just urban sprawl,
4 which we see in so many places; and then we have the
5 Beltway, which is just let's move traffic, so let's
6 just -- we don't care where it goes, let's just go
7 right through there and keep it close to the city,
8 as opposed to far out.
9 So I guess that's my main opposition, would
10 be do we have one group doing this, and another? We
11 ought to throw one or the other out. So anyway,
12 that was a point.
13 Then as I looked through some other of the
14 materials that my wife brought home, this evidently
15 was kind of a survey that was done, and it said in
16 here when they surveyed people in the city seven out
17 of eight respondents said that they should not allow
18 development in an area if it would impact important
19 natural resources. Well, that kind of underscores
20 the Stevens Creek. Important resources is right
21 here. So if seven out of eight people in this
22 survey say, let's protect them and preserve our
23 natural resources as much as we can, okay, then
24 evidently the people are speaking pretty loud and
25 clear what they would like.
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
10
1 And then further on here, master plan
2 objectives and priorities, we should develop and
3 maintain a system of parks and recreational
4 facilities across the city. Well, there we are. In
5 the Stevens Creek basin they were trying to develop
6 parks, recreation, and orderly growth.
7 Then over here, it is important for Lincoln
8 to continue to provide and maintain an excellent
9 system of parks and biking and hiking trails and be
10 planning for the -- in the county to be done in a
11 way that preserves natural resource and the quality
12 of rural life. Well, there we are.
13 Then like in the summary of this draft,
14 and, oh, some things in here, I guess one of the
15 things that caught my eye was the expense of the
16 close Beltway is that it's more expensive, of
17 course, and one of the things that costs -- drives
18 it up is because of the bridges. And we have to
19 have two interchanges for Highway 2 and the south
20 Beltway, but then if we look at -- I apologize, I've
21 got to hold this so far because I forgot my
22 glasses -- some of the impacting statements in here,
23 one of them says EC-1 impacts noise and visual
24 impact. You have to provide a major bridge
25 structure across Stevens Creek. And then it talks
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
11
1 about the diagonal segment of it at the north end,
2 and then the two connections down at the south end.
3 But then also, under social concerns, they
4 talk in here about our elected officials are
5 concerned about the impact to residences and
6 developed areas. And then a little further on it
7 says it resulted in a directive to eliminate EC-1
8 alternative from further consideration. Well, who
9 are those people? Evidently they don't have a very
10 strong voice, because we're -- here we're still
11 talking about it. I mean, who were these people,
12 then? They said, well, let's don't consider it
13 anymore, and yet it's still on the drawing board,
14 and we're speaking out about it.
15 And then down here it says a close location
16 will continue compact growth. Well, I'm not in
17 favor of compact growth. Especially when I -- like
18 for the Stevens Creek basin.
19 So that's basically what I'm saying. And I
20 just think there's so much contradiction of
21 information, we have too many task forces working,
22 and I wonder how they're all going to come to
23 agreement. But this to me seems like really a good
24 way for the city to try to grow and to accommodate
25 growth. And if we're concerned about intracity
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
12
1 traffic within the city, now, I think we could -- we
2 maybe could focus little bit more on four-lane
3 arterials within the city limits. So, I'm driving
4 out here on 84th; we haven't completed four lanes of
5 84th. Well, that would help move traffic north to
6 some other aterials. And certainly east to west, we
7 need wider streets there.
8 I don't see where the Beltway is helping
9 that much intracity traffic. It would help
10 intrastate and interstate traffic more. I also --
11 I'm not in favor of people within the city jumping
12 on an entrance ramp for two miles to exit off of a
13 beltway, and I think you'd see a lot of that. And
14 we've seen it in other major cities. People will
15 hop on a major arterial for two miles and then hop
16 off. Well, then you've got all these entrance/exit
17 ramps, and I think that is just not a good
18 direction. So...
19 HEARING OFFICER POST: Okay. Thanks for
20 coming by.
21 LARRY FUERST: Thank you.
22 HEARING OFFICER POST: Thanks.
23 (Testimony concluded at 10:15 a.m.)
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
13
1 (At 10:30 on April 24, 2001, with Hearing
2 Officer Jill Post, Witness Kevin Dugan, John Snowden
3 and the court reporter being present, the following
4 testimony was given:)
5 HEARING OFFICER POST: Ready whenever you
6 are. State your name. Are you here for testimony?
7 KEVIN DUGAN: Yes.
8 HEARING OFFICER POST: Okay.
9 KEVIN DUGAN: My name is Kevin D. Dugan,
10 2162 Southwood Place, Lincoln, Nebraska. And I'm
11 here, let the record reflect it's 10:31, April 24,
12 2001, and we're -- I'm here with John Snowden.
13 JOHN SNOWDEN: John Snowden, 3105 South
14 117th Street, Omaha, Nebraska, 68144, representing
15 Federal Highway Administration in Lincoln.
16 KEVIN DUGAN: And I would also say I'm the
17 public hearings officer for the Nebraska Department
18 of Roads.
19 JOHN SNOWDEN: Kevin has asked me to join
20 in on this --
21 KEVIN DUGAN: I asked John.
22 JOHN SNOWDEN: -- not knowing --
23 KEVIN DUGAN: Okay. I just have some
24 questions that will clear up in my mind how, you
25 know, this -- how this process is working.
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
14
1 JOHN SNOWDEN: Okay.
2 KEVIN DUGAN: And we're sequestered here in
3 the basement of the Lincoln Berean Church, Lincoln,
4 Nebraska.
5 I had wanted to talk to Ed Kosola, because
6 I was -- and I'm not sure what he does at HWA.
7 JOHN SNOWDEN: He's the right of way
8 representative, and also does environmental reviews.
9 KEVIN DUGAN: Okay. I was told that he --
10 this is sort of a new process, and I was told that
11 he was coordinating it for the driving factor.
12 JOHN SNOWDEN: Not a new process. The
13 process --
14 KEVIN DUGAN: Structure of the hearing --
15 JOHN SNOWDEN: -- structure has been used
16 across the country, from what I understand.
17 KEVIN DUGAN: Okay. And that's what I
18 understand. Some states is what the NEPA --
19 somebody sent me some NEPA documents and said some
20 states were doing this.
21 And by the way, I think it's an excellent
22 addition, this process is an excellent addition to
23 obtaining and informing the public. I think it
24 works real well in the open house type setting.
25 I had this flyer, John, and you're probably
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
15
1 familiar with it. Basically, the flyer says this is
2 a public hearing on the Draft EIS and location of
3 alternative corridors for a beltway. The project
4 sponsors are the city, county, state, and federal
5 agencies. It goes into more detail. Is that
6 basically what this is? This is a public hearing on
7 the Draft EIS and location of alternative corridors?
8 JOHN SNOWDEN: They're looking at the
9 corridors, and a no-build option also.
10 KEVIN DUGAN: Okay. And will a
11 determination be made from this process as to
12 selecting the corridors or a no-build option?
13 JOHN SNOWDEN: The public input by all the
14 people will be considered and weighed together, as a
15 joint effort by all the sponsoring parties, to come
16 up with the best decision of which alternative,
17 which way, which direction to go: no-build, build,
18 one of the three routes.
19 KEVIN DUGAN: They will select one of the
20 three routes?
21 JOHN SNOWDEN: Or a no-build.
22 KEVIN DUGAN: Or a no-build, okay. Will
23 this roadway be a state highway, US highway?
24 JOHN SNOWDEN: That hasn't been determined
25 at this point.
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
16
1 KEVIN DUGAN: No determination, okay.
2 JOHN SNOWDEN: It's up to the state and the
3 sponsoring parties if they have some interest in
4 that. But otherwise, no, there's no decision.
5 KEVIN DUGAN: No decision has been made?
6 Okay. Will location approval be requested from the
7 highway commission or from the Governor?
8 JOHN SNOWDEN: I have no idea.
9 KEVIN DUGAN: I haven't seen a lot of
10 the -- and it's my fault, it's not -- because I
11 think that you all have gone through a tremendous,
12 very good process of notifying people. It's one of
13 the best efforts I've seen, in letting the public
14 know that this is going to be happening and
15 informing the public. But I myself haven't seen,
16 for instance, some of the advertisements. And
17 this -- as a matter of fact, this flyer and a couple
18 early ads are the only ones that I've seen. Does
19 this project involve residential relocation?
20 JOHN SNOWDEN: Some of the alternatives do.
21 KEVIN DUGAN: Not all three? Just some of
22 them?
23 JOHN SNOWDEN: I don't -- I think there's
24 impacts on residences on all three alternatives.
25 KEVIN DUGAN: Relocation?
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
17
1 JOHN SNOWDEN: Relocation, it's up to
2 the -- on some -- it may be -- it's not defined well
3 enough to show the exact impacts to each residence.
4 KEVIN DUGAN: Is that made during the
5 design process?
6 JOHN SNOWDEN: That's during the design
7 process.
8 KEVIN DUGAN: Same thing with business
9 relocation, then?
10 JOHN SNOWDEN: Correct.
11 KEVIN DUGAN: Does the project involve
12 impact to wetlands?
13 JOHN SNOWDEN: Yes.
14 KEVIN DUGAN: Does the project involve
15 control of access?
16 JOHN SNOWDEN: Yes.
17 KEVIN DUGAN: Does the project involve
18 major right of way acquisition?
19 JOHN SNOWDEN: Yes.
20 KEVIN DUGAN: As I said, this flyer that I
21 had briefly described is the only -- and a couple
22 ads -- are the only things I've seen. I haven't
23 really seen any public notification that the project
24 involves residential or business relocations,
25 wetlands impact, control of access, or right of way
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
18
1 acquisition. Have I missed them? Or has that
2 information been put into a notice, other than maybe
3 Federal Register? Was it in the Federal Register?
4 JOHN SNOWDEN: I don't know the date or
5 time, no. The date of the Federal Register, I do
6 not know.
7 KEVIN DUGAN: It doesn't say, for instance,
8 in this flyer that -- which was how I was
9 notified -- and in the newspaper advertisements I've
10 seen, I didn't notice specific reference to these
11 issues in public notification.
12 JOHN SNOWDEN: I don't typically deal with
13 the notification process.
14 KEVIN DUGAN: Okay.
15 JOHN SNOWDEN: So I'm not aware of it.
16 KEVIN DUGAN: And I understand that.
17 That's not your bailiwick, that's -- you know, the
18 consultant, or the overseeing agency agencies -- the
19 state, the city, the county, the federal highways --
20 and perhaps they would know. I just haven't noticed
21 any notification like that.
22 John, how much have you been involved in
23 arranging this event?
24 JOHN SNOWDEN: I have not helped arrange
25 this event.
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
19
1 KEVIN DUGAN: Okay.
2 JOHN SNOWDEN: I was asked to attend.
3 KEVIN DUGAN: Right. And Ed Kosola, he had
4 a prior commitment today? I mean, I came at a bad
5 time.
6 JOHN SNOWDEN: He was here earlier this
7 morning and then he had to leave for another
8 meeting.
9 KEVIN DUGAN: My question, for the record,
10 would be if federal highways -- Ed Kosola
11 specifically -- has been informed of any procedural
12 concerns expressed by the EDOR public hearing
13 section about this hearing process. And if not,
14 why; and if so, I'm sure that he has --
15 JOHN SNOWDEN: What is your concern?
16 KEVIN DUGAN: To be honest, John, I'm
17 really not in a position now to rehash this. And
18 it's mostly questions, concerns, goes to the
19 procedures that we use here in the state of
20 Nebraska, and compliance with that; making sure
21 that, you know, the citizens get their due
22 notification and procedures, and that the Department
23 of Roads is living up to the standards that it's
24 long practiced. If those concerns have come to
25 light to Ed -- I'm sure that they have -- I would
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
20
1 like to hear how they were addressed.
2 And as the last thing, as the keeper of the
3 record for public hearings for Nebraska Department
4 of Roads, I would request that I receive a
5 transcript of this two-day event, and including any
6 comment sheets, public comment sheets that are made
7 part of the public record, or the -- as well as
8 notification of when the sponsoring agencies
9 consider and make a decision on this project, that I
10 also be notified of that. I have a business card
11 here. Can I just leave that with you, or -- leave
12 it with you, John?
13 JOHN SNOWDEN: Leave it with the court
14 reporter as part of the record.
15 KEVIN DUGAN: I'm sorry, your name is?
16 HEARING OFFICER POST: Kevin, I'm Jill. I
17 should have introduced myself. I'm here on behalf
18 of The Mediation Center. I'm just a volunteer
19 serving as a hearing officer.
20 KEVIN DUGAN: Good. Good. What's your
21 last name, Jill?
22 HEARING OFFICER POST: Post.
23 KEVIN DUGAN: Are you from Lincoln? And
24 I'm sorry, you are --
25 THE COURT REPORTER: I'm the court
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
21
1 reporter, Linda Swanson.
2 KEVIN DUGAN: Linda, are you from Lincoln
3 as well?
4 THE COURT REPORTER: Yes.
5 KEVIN DUGAN: John, I live close to Highway
6 2. I travel the route several times a day. It's
7 very heavy, tough truck traffic. We need a beltway
8 around the south and east side of Lincoln. I've
9 been informed of what, you know, has been presented
10 by the sponsoring agencies.
11 On a personal level, I couldn't
12 recommend -- I couldn't make a decision and
13 recommend -- I don't feel I have enough information,
14 because I just haven't heard enough about the
15 project to be able to lean one way or the other.
16 Not that it would make a difference; I don't think
17 that we should locate roadways by a vote or anything
18 like that. I -- there's sound reasons for
19 determining where we should put it. I just, I think
20 we need it as soon as possible.
21 That's all. Thank you.
22 (Testimony concluded at 10:40 a.m.)
23
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
22
1 (At 10:43 a.m. on April 24, 2001, with
2 Hearing Officer Jill Post, Witness Marla Reiter and
3 the court reporter being present, the following
4 testimony was given:)
5 HEARING OFFICER POST: State your name, and
6 spell your last.
7 MARLA REITER: I'm Marla Reiter,
8 R-e-i-t-e-r. I live in Bennet. I'm interested in a
9 further east route, the furthest, and then an access
10 from that route further east than the current
11 proposal. South 148th Street, if you could access
12 the interstate east going that way; and west, so you
13 could get off, too; and/or some interstate proposal
14 access between that Waverly area and the 420 number,
15 420 Greenwood-Ashland. Because currently we go up
16 that way on 63 to the interstate and then hit the
17 Interstate at exit 420.
18 So I would like a further east interstate
19 access, not come all the way back to Waverly. Okay.
20 Thanks.
21 HEARING OFFICER POST: Thank you.
22 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
23 (Testimony concluded at 10:44 a.m.)
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
23
1 (At 11:31 a.m. on April 24, 2001, with
2 Hearing Officer Jill Post, Witness Jo Gutgsell and
3 the court reporter being present, the following
4 testimony was given:)
5 JO GUTGSELL: J-o, G-u-t-g-s-e-l-l, 2103
6 B Street, 68502. And I'm a member of the
7 Preservation Association of Lincoln. I don't
8 have -- number one, I will be submitting written
9 comments by May 14th.
10 I am terribly disappointed in this public
11 hearing process. It is not a public hearing, to me.
12 This needs to be in front of the elected officials.
13 No elected official or most of the bureaucrats are
14 not going to read this testimony that is submitted
15 to them, so I think there needs to be a real public
16 hearing process. Highway 710 in California, the
17 judge decided against this kind of a process. I
18 don't know if that's been -- if the national trust
19 has checked on that or not with this particular
20 group, but he would not allow this.
21 And the second thing, and only -- the only
22 other thing that I want to say is this: I know that
23 this was held in this church because it was east of
24 town, south edge of town, and lots of rooms
25 available, but I think that a public hearing should
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
24
1 be in a public building and never in a church.
2 That's all. Thank you.
3 (Testimony concluded at 11:35 a.m.)
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
25
1 (At 11:50 a.m. on April 24, 2001, with
2 Hearing Officer Jill Post, Witness Eleanor Francke
3 and the court reporter being present, the following
4 testimony was given:)
5 ELEANOR FRANCKE: I'm Eleanor Francke,
6 F-r-like-Friday-a-n-c-k-e.
7 HEARING OFFICER POST: Go ahead.
8 THE WITNESS: I do not find in the DEIS the
9 notation about the air field which is between Van
10 Dorn and Pioneers on 148th Street. It's on the west
11 side of the street. I thought that that would be
12 important. Okay.
13 And then the second thing: I do have some
14 questions about this method of having a public
15 hearing, and so I will raise that. It has to do
16 with the legality of this method of doing it. Okay?
17 HEARING OFFICER POST: Good comment.
18 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
19 (Testimony concluded at 11:53 a.m.)
20
21
22
23
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
26
1 (At 11:55 a.m. on April 24, 2001, with
2 Hearing Officer Jill Post, Witness Ronald Wilhelm
3 and the court reporter being present, the following
4 testimony was given:)
5 HEARING OFFICER POST: I'm just a neutral
6 public hearing officer, and I don't have any bearing
7 on it in any way. Just state your name, and spell
8 your last name for the court reporter.
9 RONALD WILHELM: Ronald H. Wilhelm,
10 W-i-l-h-e-l-m.
11 HEARING OFFICER POST: We have about five
12 or ten minutes before we need to wrap up. Can
13 you -- do you think you can do that?
14 RONALD WILHELM: You bet.
15 HEARING OFFICER POST: Great.
16 RONALD WILHELM: I can do that. What do I
17 do, just state --
18 HEARING OFFICER POST: State your name,
19 spell your last name, and just whatever you need to
20 say.
21 RONALD WILHELM: What I'd like to say is
22 that I think the impact of the noise pollution that
23 has been reported to the general public is not
24 properly understood by the general public or the
25 news media. And although the study is done
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
27
1 according to the specifications as they look at the
2 impact of the decibel level of 66 decibels, and the
3 report then generally says that they try to address
4 those people who would have a decibel level greater
5 than 66. And there's nothing that's been made
6 public that I'm aware of that talks about the
7 decibel level increase or the impact on the number
8 of people along each beltway.
9 If there is an increase of 3 decibels --
10 3 -- if you were in a 40- or 44-level decibel, you
11 would hear the noise different. And the question
12 is, how many people does that increase in decibel
13 level affect? We -- I think the easiest way to make
14 an analogy: If a tree falls in the forest, is there
15 sound? Well, if there's one person in the forest,
16 you have noise pollution. If you have 10,000 people
17 in that forest, how many people does that impact?
18 And the beltway of the innermost proposal
19 will affect a great number of people. There's
20 several golf courses along that area, people within
21 the city going to play golf, who have relied on that
22 as a source of recreation. That area will be
23 impacted. And again, if you look at the study
24 that's proposed, according to the highway
25 specifications, it doesn't show that being an
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
28
1 impact; and there greatly is an impact.
2 The outermost beltway's impact is far less
3 people for noise pollution, and any future
4 development that would be done in that area that
5 people then will have the opportunity to choose how
6 they want to address noise pollution on their own.
7 Right now, the proposal is that here is the noise
8 pollution, take it or leave it. And that affects
9 many, many people in the innermost beltway. We
10 either take it or we leave it, or we just simply --
11 we just take it. And I want to make sure that the
12 general public has an opportunity to get really more
13 of an in-depth feeling for noise pollution than what
14 has been presently presented to them.
15 This concludes what I'd like to say.
16 HEARING OFFICER POST: Thanks for coming
17 in.
18 (Testimony concluded at 11:58 a.m.)
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
29
1 (At 11:59 a.m. on April 24, 2001, with
2 Hearing Officer Jill Post, Witness Robert Priel and
3 the court reporter being present, the following
4 testimony was given:)
5 HEARING OFFICER POST: If you could just
6 state your name, and spell your last name.
7 ROBERT PRIEL: Okay. My name is Robert
8 Priel, P-as-in-Paul-r-i-e-l. I live in Lancaster
9 County on South 68th Street out of Hickman.
10 I've lived in Lincoln in Lancaster County
11 since 1969. I've been involved as a citizen
12 concerned with ecology issues, concerned with
13 diversity issues, and concerned with quality of life
14 for all people issues during this focal point of the
15 last thirty plus years. I'm a father, a
16 grandfather, and I look at the choices that are
17 being made as we are coming to a conclusion of this
18 study, and I think it's going to bring great
19 closure, because we have to make a decision.
20 I think the advantage is, talking with
21 people in our city, state, federal government over
22 these last thirty years, talking to individuals that
23 are citizens, that we all have opinions. We all
24 have to respect one another's opinions. But
25 sometimes decisions have to be made, and lack of
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
30
1 decision is a decision. I think from a perspective
2 of the study's input, it's excellent.
3 We've considered everything from flood
4 issues, natural resource issues, impact on human
5 life from the standpoint of noise, visual impact.
6 And I could go on with other impacts that are
7 involved: historical, extremly important, because we
8 are built on our forefather's shoulders. I look at
9 all the planning that's been done by the city
10 planners, and over the last hundred years; I look at
11 what our decisions have been, looking back through
12 previous road building plans, county plans, and the
13 decisions have already been pointed to. It's just
14 time, I think, now, for us to move.
15 I won't state my preference at this point,
16 but I want to encourage anyone that has a preference
17 to make it before the decision is made. And we
18 can't quarterback this on Monday morning, so let's
19 do it now.
20 HEARING OFFICER POST: Okay. Thank you.
21 (Testimony concluded at 12:03 p.m.)
22
23
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
31
1 C E R T I F I C A T E
2 I, Linda Swanson, Registered Merit Reporter,
3 do hereby certify that the within and following
4 complete transcript contains all the testimony
5 requested to be transcribed by me and the comments
6 of the hearing officer, from the public hearings
7 held in this matter; and that said complete
8 transcript is a correct and complete transcript of
9 the testimony requested to be transcribed from the
10 record made at the time of said public hearings.
11 Dated this 27th day of April, 2001.
12
13
Linda P. Swanson, RMR
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
LINDA P. SWANSON, RMR JS WURM & ASSOCIATES (402) 475-3376
