Rancho P. V.

After five years of looking for a place to build a new post office, the Postal Service has settled on a site above the Courtyard Mall shopping complex that city officials say they can probably live with.

Earlier, postal officials chose other property nearby, but residents objected because the land was hilly and would require extensive earth moving. The new site, on Crestridge Road west of Crenshaw Boulevard, is flatter and would require only minimal grading.

The Postal Service plans to buy five acres and build a 47,000-square-foot facility within the next three years to replace a post office at Peninsula Center. A 35-acre parcel, owned by Palos Verdes Properties, must be subdivided before postal authorities can negotiate a purchase.

Although the council’s consensus is that the site is acceptable, Councilman Mel Hughes said the post office would create traffic, noise and light pollution problems for residents above Crestridge. But he said the problems can be dealt with if the post office is “sensitive” to community concerns. Councilman Robert Ryan, who opposes moving the facility outside of Peninsula Center, emerged as the lone opponent of the new site at a meeting this week between postal and city officials.

Dave Mazer, Postal Service public affairs officer in Los Angeles, said authorities will respond to city concerns about traffic, noise and light problems “in the next few weeks.”