A draft study on the potential environmental impacts of new buildings and facility upgrades at the California National Primate Research Center located at the University of California, Davis, is available for public review and comment. The projects covered by the study include administrative and research office buildings, new animal housing and new freezer storage buildings.

The draft study found that the potential environmental impacts would not exceed those described in the environmental impact report for the 1994 Long Range Development Plan for the UC Davis campus, as updated and amended to date, and that no additional mitigation measures were required.

Three new modular buildings, two of 840 square feet and one of 1,150 square feet, will relieve overcrowding in current office space at the primate center. A new, one-story, 7,433-square-foot building containing laboratories and work space would replace an existing 6,000-square-foot temporary building.

The center proposes to construct up to 20 new 840-square-foot modular buildings for housing animals born at the primate center.

The center currently has a shortage of freezer space for research samples. Two new 840-square-foot freezer buildings will provide additional capacity for long-term storage of samples, allowing researchers to retain more samples from research projects.

One of eight national primate centers supported by the National Institutes of Health, the center provides a facility for researchers at UC Davis, other UC campuses and institutions such as Stanford University and the Scripps Research Institute. The center conducts research in areas such as AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, autism and asthma.

A brief public notice including a project description and a summary of potential impacts is available on the Web at http://www.ormp.ucdavis.edu/environreview/. Copies of the study are available at: the UC Davis Office of Resource Management and Planning in 376 Mrak Hall on campus; the reserve desk of the Shields Library on campus; the Yolo County Public Library, 315 East 14th St., Davis; the Vacaville Public Library, 1020 Ulatis Drive, Vacaville; and on the Web at http://www.ormp.ucdavis.edu/environreview/.

Comments on the draft study can be submitted up to 5 p.m. on April 18, 2003. They may be emailed to environreview@ucdavis.edu or sent to John Meyer, Vice Chancellor for Resource Management and Planning, 376 Mrak Hall, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616.