For all the talk about how Renaissance Square will look to surface-dwellers, not much has been said about its impact below ground.

The project's environmental assessment spells out the Main and Clinton site's past history as a Native- American settlement. Through 130 years of development, the area's been developed, redeveloped, and disturbed, the report says. Project officials will explore some of the lesser-disturbed areas - spots along Pleasant and Mortimer Streets and at both ends of Division Street. If there are significant archaeological finds, further exploration will be warranted and will be done in conjunction with the State Historic Preservation Office prior to construction.

Historical impact is only a piece of the environmental assessment; the 400-page document touches on everything from traffic to aesthetics. A public hearing on the assessment is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 8, at the Hyatt Regency, 125 East Main Street.

The document answers some looming questions. There are alternate plans in place in case the $55 million needed to build the theater portion of the project can't be raised in time for groundbreaking - an increasingly likely scenario. The transit center and Monroe Community College campus portions would be constructed first, while the theater site would be used as a staging area for the rest of the project and then developed as a landscaped public plaza until the funds are raised.

As for bus circulation, left-hand turn restrictions would be lifted from Main Street at St. Paul and Clinton so that buses can travel around the block. Traffic signal timing at the Main-Clinton and Main-St. Paul intersections would be altered to prevent congestion, the document says. Project planners also want to install traffic signals at the transit center entrances on St. Paul and Clinton, so that it's easier for buses to make the turn.