The Postal Service has posted a notice inviting comments on the proposed relocation of the Lancaster, KY, Post Office, located at 107 Danville Street (40444).

The notice says that “due to severe space constraints at the facility,” the Postal Service is looking for a new location for retail services, possibly the carrier operation as well.

According to the notice, “The desired size of the new facility needs to be one of the following: (a) an existing building, approximately 800 square feet, with dedicated parking, for retail operations only, or (b) a vacant land site to lease, approximately 14,000 square feet, in which the Postal Service can bring in a postal-owned modular building, or (c) an existing building, approximately 5,000 square feet, with dedicated parking, for the relocation of delivery operations only or delivery and retail operations.”

Presenting three options to the community in this way is standard operating procedure for the Postal Service when it wants to relocate. As usual, the notice requires a closer look.

According to the USPS facilities report, the current post office has 3,820 square feet and a site with 26,746 square feet. The post office has a delivery unit with 11 carriers.

Eleven carriers may make the office somewhat cramped. A post office with that many carriers typically has about 8,000 square feet. But it’s not clear what the Postal Service intends to do for the carrier operation.

The first two options involve moving the retail to another location, but there’s no indication of what would happen to the carriers. Would they remain in the building and expand into the space now occupied by the retail operation, or would they too move to a new building, as suggested by the third option, which calls for relocating the carriers, with or without the retail.

If carriers were to remain at the current location, the additional square footage made available by moving out the retail would probably be less than 1,000 square feet. That might make a difference, but the notice doesn’t say so.

If the Postal Service can’t find a suitable space to lease for retail, it might go with the second option and move retail to a modular building. The Postal Service currently owns about 750 modular buildings, which average 850 square feet. A site of approximately 14,000 square feet is much smaller than the current site, but presumably it would be enough for customers.

The third option — an existing building with approximately 5,000 square feet – would apparently be sufficient for delivery and retail operations or maybe just delivery. That’s 1,200 square feet more than the current facility.but it’s still smaller than most offices with eleven carriers.

One possible outcome involves a combination of the three alternatives. The Postal Service could end up leasing two spaces, one for a small store front or a modular unit for a retail unit, perhaps near the center of town, plus a larger space for the carrier unit, perhaps outside of downtown where there’s more space for parking.

In any case, all three options in the notice involve moving the retail operation out of the current location, and none of the options specifically says that the Postal Service intends to keep anything in the current building.

It appears that the Postal Service is planning to sell the Lancaster post office.

Something similar is going on in Lamar, Missouri, where the Postal Service has proposed a relocation of a historic post office. In the relocation notice for Lamar, the Postal Service specifically says one of the three options is to move both carriers and retail and then sell the building.

According to the USPS facilities report, the Post Office Department took occupancy of the Lancaster post office in 1919. The building itself may have been constructed in 1917.

As reported on the Postal Service’s website, there was a ceremony in October 2017 to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Lancaster office. “We are very pleased to invite the community to join us for this special event,” said the postmaster in the press release.

The post office is located in the center of downtown Lancaster, the county seat of Gerard County. It’s a couple of blocks from several county government buildings — the Gerard County Court House (built in 1868); the Gerard County Justice Center, which houses the District and Circuit courts; and the County Clerk’s office.

Lancaster is a historic town known for its nineteenth-century architecture. The town boasts over 50 properties listed on the National Register. The post office is eligible for the National Register, but it’s not included in the list, perhaps because the Postal Service never submitted an application.

Located 36 miles south of Lexington, Lancaster is the site of the Kennedy House, said to be the setting for Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Also located nearby are two Civil War historic sites, Camp Dick Robinson and the Camp Nelson National Monument.

The USPS relocation notice invites written comments, due within 45 days (i.e., May 1). The public will not be able to see these comments, however, and there won’t be a public meeting to discuss the relocation of retail services and possible disposal of the building either.

Such meetings were part of federal regulations for 25 years, as set forth in a revision to 39 CFR Part 241 back in 1998. But in June 2023, the Postal Service changed these regulations –  based on its practices during the pandemic, when public meetings weren’t possible — so that meetings on relocations are no longer required.

Our archive of previous posts on relocations is here.

— Steve Hutkins

(Featured Image: Google Street View)