On Hawleyville PO—

Developer Patiently Awaiting

USPS Decision

By Nancy K. Crevier

For three years, Mark Murphy of Dimark Development in Amsterdam, N.Y., has been working with the Housatonic Railroad and the United States Postal Service (USPS) to come to a decision as to the fate of the building that until this past February housed the Hawleyville Post Office on Route 25. He has kept a low profile up until now, said Mr Murphy, because in his 10 to 12 years of experience dealing with the USPS for the seven other post office projects he has built for them and the towns in which they were erected, he has typically waited until he has a lease in hand from the USPS before going before a town board or forum.

 “I was unaware of the town forum in March, and I don’t believe the Housatonic Railroad was aware of it, either,” said Mr Murphy. Even so, he said, he has never before gone to the townspeople before being awarded a project.

But after going to the Save Hawleyville Post Office committee website following a site visit in Hawleyville last month, Mr Murphy was disappointed to find that the group and first selectman of Newtown had already endorsed the Barnabas Road project as a desirable place to reopen the temporarily closed Hawleyville Post Office. Mr Murphy has submitted two of the four offers posted last month by the USPS for consideration for the project.

“I am disappointed as it has gone down the road that if [the Save Hawleyville Post Office organization] wanted to save the post office, typically it means to save the building and the site,” said Mr Murphy in a phone interview, Wednesday, May 13.

Mr Murphy has sent the USPS different proposals over the years proposing different ways to save the post office at the Route 25 site, he said, and went over some of the designs with USPS postal official Jim Hickey and Housatonic Railroad Vice President Rob Finley “at least a year ago.”

The last time around with the USPS, said Mr Murphy, it appeared the project was going to be canceled and the post office closed. When the opportunity arose this spring to resubmit his ideas to the USPS through the procedures put in place following a town forum and initiation of the process by the USPS, Mr Murphy felt that his offers had at least as much probability of being selected as any other offer that would come up. He still feels that his plans, one to renovate the building on its present footprint, and the other to rebuild on the property, are viable and positive solutions that will be carefully considered as the USPS makes its final decision next month.

“I thought the goal was to save the Hawleyville Post Office as it stands, in its current location, not in a strip mall,” Mr Murphy said.

He understands that patrons of the post office are anxious to get the facility up and running as soon as possible, but said that the Barnabas Road site is not the only option that could do so. “It’s very doable to get a post office by the end of this summer,” said Mr Murphy, “based on my experience working with the USPS and the several facilities I have built for them. I hate to see anyone rush. It’s odd that [the Save Hawleyville Post Office committee] would take the strip mall approach instead of a structure that would be nice, fitting in with the architecture of the community, and be there for years to come,” he said.

Mr Murphy said that he had a similar situation with a post office his company constructed in Cambridge, in which they were able to satisfy the USPS specifications as well as have it fit in with the village. “I don’t know if others in [Newtown] have made known their opinions to the USPS about the offers, but I am wondering if [the Save Hawleyville Post Office committee] made a rush to the decision without looking at the four proposals and what did we propose? Did they request drawings of the other proposals from the USPS when the offers were posted?” he asked.

As the controversy over renovating, rebuilding, closing, and temporarily closing the Hawleyville Post Office has dragged on since a neighborhood group first asked permission to spruce up the dilapidated building in 2005, the USPS and the Housatonic Railroad, lessor of the property, have more than once given reasons ranging from lack of a single water source, a lead problem, and space issues as to why the present building would not be suitable for renovation. The neighborhood group was advised to write to the USPS for permission to “fix up” the Hawleyville Post Office, and according to former area resident Maureen Colbert-Wilhelm, at that time, the group was told it would be too costly to refurbish the building, and cited insurance issues with the site.

In 2006, Housatonic Railroad Vice President Rob Finley told The Newtown Bee that the Route 25 facility “can’t be rehabilitated to meet USPS specifications,” citing structural issues, and lack of parking space. As recently as February of this year, Maureen Marion of the USPS reiterated, “The building is not well suited to the workload, to security, or to safe loading.”

There are issues with the present site that will be addressed if his proposal of renovating the building is accepted, said Mr Murphy. By using the existing footprint, the property would be grandfathered in, negating the need for a setback from the road. Property behind the building would be purchased to allow for additional parking and turn around for the mail trucks, and to his knowledge, should the proposal by the Housatonic Railroad to increase the size of its transfer station be approved, a separate entrance for that would be 500 feet down the road from the post office site and day-to-day business for the transfer station would all take place far back of the post office.

Even the extensive remodeling of the building that would be required, which would leave only the walls, floors and footprint of the original building in place, would not take much more than three months, estimated Mr Murphy. “Unless the town holds it up, it shouldn’t be a problem with going in with the drawings and pulling permits in a couple of weeks. You don’t have to go to Planning and Zoning for remodeling. My designs took into consideration the community and keeping the character of the building,” said Mr Murphy. “I just want to have my proposal considered, and I think it will be. It is absolutely up to the USPS. Ultimately, they are the ones to decide where they are going to put it and how much they are going to spend,” he said.

He remains hopeful that the community and USPS will take seriously all proposals that have been put forth, and expressed the same frustration that others in his position have expressed over the timeline. “I know from dealing with the USPS that they do take their time. This has been an extreme case, though, I have to say. It’s been longer than normal for me.”