The environmental document for three proposed dormitory buildings and a new dining commons at the University of California, Davis, has been completed and is available for public review and comment.

The Draft Tiered Initial Study is available, with the public notice for the project, on the Web.

Copies also are available at the university's Office of Resource Management and Planning in Mrak Hall and the reserve reading rooms of UC Davis' Shields Library, the Davis branch of the Yolo County Library and the Vacaville Public Library.

Written comments may be submitted through Oct. 17 to the Office of Resource Management and Planning or by e-mail to environreview@ucdavis.edu.

The proposed projects, scheduled for opening in fall 2003, would be located on campus in the Segundo residential area southeast of the intersection of Russell Boulevard and La Rue Road.

The four-story dormitories together would accommodate up to 400 first-year students in double rooms and, at the maximum, increase by nearly 10 percent the number of freshmen housed on campus this year. Totaling 115,000 gross square feet, they would be built adjacent to the intersection on 2.2 acres now being used as a 147-space parking lot.

The proposed dining commons, to replace an existing facility in the area with more than 2.5 times the assignable area, would provide seating for 828 people and a specialized food-preparation kitchen to serve the three other dining commons on campus. The 45,000-square-foot building would be constructed south of Gilmore and Bixby halls on 5.2 acres currently used as a recreation area.

Once the new dining commons is in operation, the existing dining commons would be used to support activities of the Segundo area residents.