UTICA, N.Y. -- Property owners in the site of the proposed downtown Utica hospital will be receiving assistance.

Mohawk Valley Health System representatives, elected officials and other project leaders announced their plans to address property owners' concerns on Tuesday.

They say up to $1 million in relocation funding will be available to support businesses looking to relocate in Utica or Oneida County.

Also, property owners in the footprint of the new campus won't be responsible for addressing environmental issues caused by previous owners.

And the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties is hiring a new full-time project coordinator to help affected businesses identify potential options and relocation funding.

"Prior to recently we hadn't been planning for this," said MVHS Executive Vice President/COO Robert Scholefield. "But as a result of the conversations that our staff are having with the property owners, it became evident to us that we needed to contribute some more money to this project to help offset the cost for the property owners." 

The amount of relocation funding for eligible property owners will depend on their relocation costs and there will be a cap.