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City's post office to be replaced

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By JOYCE McKENZIE

jmckenzie@tampatrib.com

Published: November 25, 2009

TEMPLE TERRACE - It was standing room only on Nov. 17 in the city council chambers.

Area residents and business owners packed the house, hoping to receive favorable news regarding the possible closing of Temple Terrace's only post office.

Attendees got the answer they hoped they would hear - sort of.

Jean Berg, an Atlanta-based U.S. Postal Service real estate specialist, assured them services in Temple Terrace will not cease, but the town's facility will move.

In August the post office at 8862 N. 56th St. in the Temple Terrace downtown redevelopment project was among 14 in the Tampa Bay area targeted for closing or consolidation in light of this year's $3.8 billion national postal service shortfall.

Ideally, post office officials would like the new site to be within one to three miles of the existing facility and consist of 15,000 to 17,000 square feet, enough space to accommodate a loading dock and parking for its mail trucks and customer vehicles.

Berg said the matter is open for public comments through mid-December, when the postal service will begin its 30-day bid-solicitation period. The public, she said, then will be invited to review a list of unranked contending and noncontending sites through the end of February.

Officials plan to decide on a site by the end of March and the city council will have 30 days to review the decision. From there it could take months before the new full-service post office is built and opened for business.

"That's how the process works," Berg said. "The site must be economically viable and physically doable."

City Manager Kim Leinbach expressed the importance of having a post office in the city.

"Our residents very much rely on this facility," he said.

Mayor Joe Affronti said the Temple Terrace Post Office is one of the busiest in Hillsborough County.

"It ranks right behind those in New Tampa, Carrollwood and at Tampa International Airport," he said.
Temple Terrace resident Grant Rimbey spoke as a representative of the Downtown Redevelopment Task Force and the Temple Terrace Preservation Society.

"As one of the three incorporated areas in Hillsborough County, Temple Terrace definitely deserves to have its own post office," he said. "Hopefully the postal service will work with the city keep it in the core of our city."

Barbara Sparks-McGlinchy, executive director of the city's chamber of commerce and a 27-year resident of Temple Terrace, concurred.

"I strongly urge you to keep it with our downtown redevelopment area," she said.

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 731-8026. Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 731-8026.

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