Public Involvement Notifications and Outreach

Public meetings and public hearings allow the public to participate in the transportation planning process and to better understand the road, rail and aviation projects that affect their communities, and are often required as part of the NEPA process.
Legal Notice Requirements.
 TxDOT is legally required to notify the public about a public meeting or public hearing and
this notice
 is a critical aspect of the planning process.
If the project is the subject of an environmental assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS), the hearing notice will be combined with the notice of availability of the draft EA or EIS.
 In addition, TxDOT is required to develop notices that alert the public about specific milestones in the environmental review process and offers the opportunity to review environmental documents. Notice types include Notice Affording Opportunity for Public Hearing; Notice of Availability
of a Finding of No Significant Impact; and Notice of Availability of a Final Environmental Impact Statement/Record of Decision.
Notice requirements vary depending on the type of project and notification. These requirements can be found in the
TxDOT Environmental Affairs Division's Public Involvement Toolkit
.
Online Notice Requirement.
 In addition to supporting the legal requirements for public hearings and public meetings notifications, the agency requires districts and divisions to place
certain types of notices on TxDOT's website, including notices of public meetings, notices of public hearings, notices of opportunities for public hearings, and notices of availability of certain environmental documents, as explained in the TxDOT Environmental Affairs Division's Public Involvement Toolkit.
 Notices about upcoming public meetings or hearings
must be published
 on TxDOT's website
at least 15 days prior to the event
 as outlined in the TxDOT Environmental
Affairs Division's
 Public Involvement Toolkit. In many cases, posting information prior to the 15-day requirement can be even more helpful for the public, so early coordination is important. The Public Involvement Section will help develop online notices with the assistance from districts and divisions.
The process of posting a notice to the TxDOT website includes:
  • Plan the content and timing much earlier than the 15-day requirement by contacting the Public Involvement Section to determine the online notice timing and to begin gathering and organizing online materials –
    contact the PI Section as early as possible
  • Coordination with the Public Involvement Section to post online notices should begin one month in advance of the 15-day deadline date; the Public Involvement Section recommends starting this planning process as soon as the public hearing or meeting date has been identified
  • Forward a copy of the legal notice to the Public Involvement Section to include as a hyperlink within the online notice
  • Provide a project location map associated with the public meeting or hearing to the Public Involvement Section as appropriate
  • Discuss any translation needs for the legal notice or other materials prior to posting on the TxDOT website;
    follow the translation process using the statewide procurement purchase order. More information can be found about this process and the time required on the PI Section Crossroads site
  • Public Involvement Section drafts the notice
    based on the legal notice provided by the district or division (for environmental review-related notices, the legal notice will have been developed using a template from the TxDOT Environmental Affairs Divisions' Public Involvement Toolkit)
  • District/division reviews the draft online notice provided by the Public Involvement Section, which shows how the online notice appears will appear on txdot.gov, make any edits and provide approval to the Public Involvement Section
  • Public Involvement Section works with Web Services to get the online notice live on the TxDOT website and have the online notice posted on the
    Meetings, Hearings and Notices Schedule
    page
  • Update the notice with additional project information; for example, forward any schematics, exhibit board or presentation materials that would be helpful for the public
  • Forward the meeting summary report as appropriate to the Public Involvement Section; the public appreciates reviewing how their comments were addressed and any meeting notes.
Additional Outreach.
 Beyond the legal requirements of notifying the public about meetings and hearings, districts and divisions have a duty to support the agency’s Public Involvement Policy to incorporate a range of strategies to encourage broad participation reflective of the needs of the state’s population. It is incredibly important to use every method available to ensure the public is aware of these meeting opportunities.
Building awareness of these opportunities is achieved by using a variety of best practices and outreach strategies. The Public Involvement Section can assist with the development of a Public Involvement Plan to outline additional strategies for outreach; contact the Public Involvement Section early to discuss potential additional notification strategies. Districts and divisions can refer to the
Public Involvement
section on Crossroads for guidance or consider enrolling in the OPI100 Effective Public Involvement training to learn more about outreach methods.