Study on Proposed Campus Hotel-Conference Center Available for Review

The environmental document for a proposed conference center, hotel and administrative building at the University of California, Davis, has been completed and is available for public review and comment. Copies of the Draft Tiered Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration can be obtained from the reserve reading room of UC Davis' Shields Library, the Davis branch of the Yolo County Library and the Fairfield-Suisun Community Library in Fairfield. The public notice for the project is available on the World Wide Web at . Written comments may be submitted through Oct. 27 to the planning and budget office at the university. The proposed facilities include: * a five-acre conference center and hotel including 150 guest rooms, 13,200 square feet of conference and meeting space, one restaurant and pub, and 125 on-site parking spaces; * a building with 40,000 square feet of offices and meeting space for university relations offices including development, public communications, advancement services and government and community relations; * and a 325-space parking lot, located west of Old Davis Road between Interstate 80 and the University Arboretum. Plans call for the hotel and conference center to be located on the central campus south of the University Club and the environmental horticulture buildings and east of the Center for the Arts, now under construction. The university relations building would be on a one-acre site on the south side of the conference center and immediately adjacent to the complex. The conference center and hotel are expected to provide a venue for academic conferences and accommodations for visitors, alumni and the business community. The university relations building would consolidate the offices for several departments and provide easier access for faculty, campus groups and external constituencies.