Freeze on capital projects stalls Sylva's new post office

By Lynn Hotaling

Sylva Mayor Brenda Oliver said that because a freeze has been placed on capital expenditures by the U.S. Postal Service board of governors, a number of projects, including Sylva's, will not go forward at this time.

The slowdown is due to Postal Service financial woes, Oliver said, and not because of the upcoming retirement of the postmaster general as she was first told. The only projects being considered for funding at this time are those that involve facilities that pose a safety hazard, she said. The mayor plans to continue lobbying for a new facility for Sylva.

"Our post office has no handicap access and inadequate parking," Oliver said. "The existing facility is not going to match projected growth for the area."

It was reported in January that a deal for a new Sylva Post Office would likely be signed within a month.

An agreement that would pave the way for a post office at Jackson Plaza seemed imminent last April, but negotiations between Grindstaff Trust, the property owner, and the owners/operators of the shopping center were not finalized.

The proposed post office site is a wooded area on the Roses end of the shopping center, Mayor Oliver said.

At the request of Postal Service officials and Don Martel of Jackson Plaza, Sylva board members voted in January to accept the access road to Jackson Plaza as a town street, provided it is upgraded to town standards and a post office is built there.

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