Twenty-one years later, deal is struck between Hobart, Austin-Straubel Airport

HOBART – During its Aug. 5 meeting, the Hobart Village Board discussed a land swap deal between the Village of Hobart and Brown County.

Background

In 2004, the Village and Green Bay Austin-Straubel International Airport entered into discussions to vacate portions of W. Adam Drive and Lonesome Road.

All contiguous land is under the sole ownership of the airport.

A resolution to vacate the roads was drafted, but records show that the public hearing was delayed, and the resolution was never acted upon.

The agreement was last set as “tabled… until further information can be obtained from Co. Exec. C. Kelso.” in a June 15, 2004, meeting, and 16 years later, in 2020, negotiations resumed as part of a broader land swap.

After five more years of back-and-forth discussion, the agreement — 21 years in the making — is now poised for final approval.
The deal has three components: the roads to be vacated, the parcels that Hobart will acquire and a future, non-contestable option for Brown County to vacate Cyrus Road.

Vacated land

After approving the land‐swap agreement, Hobart will formally vacate the two road segments —Lonesome Road and a portion of West Adam Drive — that lie entirely inside airport property by following Wisconsin’s statutory vacation process.

In practice, that means:

• The Board adopts a resolution directing staff to initiate the vacation under Wis. Stat. § 66.1003.

• The village will publish notice of a public hearing and mail notice to Brown County (the sole abutting owner).

• At least 14 days after the notice, the Board will hold the hearing, consider any public comments (there have been none to date), and then vote on an ordinance discontinuing the right-of-way.

• The Village records that ordinance and an updated right-of-way map with the Register of Deeds, and files notice in the real‐property index, and 30 to 60 days later (per the intergovernmental agreement), Hobart and Brown County close on the swap and the land will be county property.

Because neither Lonesome Road nor the affected segment of West Adam Drive currently serves any homes or businesses (they’re fully enveloped within airport property), no private resident or neighborhood traffic patterns will change.

Once vacated, Hobart no longer maintains or insures those pavement segments or right-of-way, and they simply revert to Brown County ownership.

For Brown County and Austin-Straubel Airport, gaining fee title to those abandoned strips lets them consolidate airport lands, simplify security fencing and potentially convert the pavement into internal service roads or expand airfield infrastructure without having a public street bisecting airport property.

Acquired land

After the roadway vacation ordinance and updated right-of-way map are recorded with the Register of Deeds, Hobart and Brown County will close on the land-swap within 30 to 60 days.

Once Hobart records the deed, the land officially becomes municipal property.

The deed restricts uses to municipal purposes — such as a village hall annex, public works yard or emergency services station — and explicitly prohibits residential or lodging functions.

An avigation easement ensures the airport’s unobstructed flight operations overhead and bars any structures or landscaping from penetrating FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Part 77 airspace and prohibits wildlife-attracting features.

Brown County retains the right to inspect the site, enforce height limits, remove non-compliant obstructions or clear vegetation that poses aviation risks, with notice to Hobart and an opportunity to remedy any issues.

While the deed does not directly regulate the sale of the land, the same rules will carry over to the new owner of the deed, still restricting it to municipal purposes only, consequently restricting the sale of the land.

Board members have not announced specific plans for the land, but spoke on its potential to support future beneficial Village projects.

Cyrus Road

Under the terms of the intergovernmental agreement, Brown County and Austin-Straubel Airport could later pursue the vacation of the Cyrus Road segment east of Airport Drive without needing further village board approval.

That roughly 0.12-mile stretch lies entirely within airport property and serves no private homes or businesses.

After completion of the procedure, the land will be county and airport property to use however they see fit.

Because the Cyrus Road segment is fully enveloped by airport fencing and has no independent traffic function, its vacation will simply allow the airport to further consolidate land holdings, streamline security fencing and potentially extend internal service roads or airfield infrastructure — without altering any local traffic patterns or requiring additional municipal maintenance.

Austin-Straubel representatives said that the main use for the possible vacation and land expansion would be for an extension of runway 18/36 running north to south; but seeing how this runway is already 8,700 feet long and has serviced aircrafts such as Air Force One (a Boeing 747-200B (VC-25A)) and a fully loaded Antonov 124 that weighed in at over 200 tons, there are no long-term plans in place to conduct such an extension.

The only construction in discussion with Cyrus Road is an observation tower for public use, which the village board fully welcomed.