WHEREAS, on November 15, 2018, the City of Utica Planning Board (“Planning Board”) issued a notice of completion and public hearing (“Notice”) under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (“SEQRA”) relative to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (“DEIS”) for the massive multi-million dollar Mohawk Valley Health System Hospital Project (“Project”);

WHEREAS, the Notice specified the public comment period to be from November 19, 2018 to December 27, 2018;

WHEREAS, the duration of the public comment period is only 39 days, which includes two major holidays (i.e., Thanksgiving and Christmas);

WHEREAS, the Project is a huge undertaking with a variety of potential long-term environmental impacts, evaluation of which has resulted in a lengthy, extremely complex DEIS totally more than 3,500 pages;

WHEREAS, the Project, if approved and constructed will result in massive impacts to the 25-acre footprint and beyond, including the destruction or impairment of multiple historic structures, 40 businesses, 5 non-profit organizations/facilities, and the character of the Columbia- Lafayette neighborhood as a whole;

WHEREAS, due to the far-reaching impacts and complicated nature of the Project, there are many concerns regarding this Project which require careful consideration and deliberation;

WHEREAS, due to the complexity of the issues and the many people impacted by this Project, there is a need to coordinate review of the DEIS in order to allow for meaningful public participation in the SEQRA process and comment on the DEIS;

WHEREAS, the 39 days provided for public comment, which also includes two major holidays (occurring on a Thursday and a Tuesday and thereby effectively eliminating no less than 4 days from the public review period), barely exceeds the 30-day minimum comment period required by SEQRA regulations (6 NYCRR 617.9[a][3] & [a][4][iii]) and, in any event, is inadequate to allow for a thorough, meaningful review by the public of the more than 3,500 pages of the DEIS;