The U.S. Postal Service is expected in Minden next month to look for a new site to replace the town's 34-year-old post office.
Town board member Robert Hadfield said Wednesday the postal service is looking for 2 acres on which to build or lease a new post office.
The current facility, at Ninth Street and Highway 395 is 4,575 square feet on a .630 acre site. The building is owned by a trust held by John and Bonnie Adamick of Burbank, Calif., and leased by the postal service.
"The post office representative in charge of new post offices said they had a little bit of money left over and allocated it for a new Minden post office. They have to have a site by September," Hadfield said.
He said the new building is to be 8,200 square feet, nearly twice the size of the existing structure.
Hadfield said he told postal officials the post office needs to be in the town of Minden, the county seat.
"Areas like Johnson Lane have a Minden address and I was concerned it could be moved a considerable distance," Hadfield said.
Once the site is approved, construction is expected to be complete within 18 months.
Hadfield addressed the congestion at the Minden post office in the parking lot and the building.
"You take your life in hand when you walk through that parking lot and a lot of cars are trying to back up," he said.
He said the postal service wants public input on the location.
"They don't like to be out in the boondocks if they don't have to be," he said. "They are conscious of the town's design guidelines and they said they are not going to come in and put up an ugly building."
In 2005, postal officials tried to erect a chain link fence around the post office parking lot. Construction was halted by town and county officials after residents complained the fence made the lot look like a prison yard.
Hadfield said he expected a postal service representative at the town's Feb. 6 meeting.
