UC MERCED, MERCED COUNTY ANNOUNCE ONE-WEEK EXTENSION OF PUBLIC COMMENT PHASE ON ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW DOCUMENTS

Sept. 18, Merced, CA - The University of California, Merced and Merced County have extended for an additional week the public comment phase for the draft Environmental Impact Reports [EIRs] for the proposed University Long Range Development Plan and the proposed University Community Plan. The extension announced by the University and the County now means the review period will end at 5 p.m. on Thursday, October 4, 2001; the original deadline had been 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 27, 2001.

The EIRs were released to various federal and state regulatory agencies for review beginning on August 13, 2001. In addition, the EIRs were made available to the public at repositories in Sacramento, Merced, and Los Banos, and the documents were made available on CD-ROM to interested parties. The documents are posted on the web site http://www.ucmercedplanning.net.

The California Environmental Quality Act provides for public review of the draft EIRs for a minimum 45-day period.

Those wishing to provide comments on the EIRs are asked to deliver their written comments to the following addresses by the deadline:

University Community Plan draft EIR: Robert E. Smith, Planning Director, UC Development Office, 3351 "M" Street, Suite 240, Merced, California 95348;

UC Merced Long Range Development Plan draft EIR: Ric Notini, Environmental and Permitting Manager, UC Merced, 1170 W. Olive Avenue, Suite I, Merced, California, 95348.

Those with questions concerning the documents are asked to contact UC Merced at (209) 724-4414 or the Merced County UC Development Office at (209) 725-3700.

###