Postal Expansion Plans for County Told

About $90 million has been earmarked to build and expand Postal Service buildings in 18 areas of San Diego County starting next year.

Postal officials have begun acquiring land for the five-year construction effort as well as telling local officials and residents about the plans.

The San Diego County expansion is part of a $7.2-billion nationwide campaign to enhance service, said Mike Cannone, communications manager for the Postal Service’s San Diego Division, which includes Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties.

Last week, the Postal Service completed work on a 25,000-square-foot warehouse and carrier annex at San Diego’s main post office on Midway Drive as part of the previous five-year building program. Every five years, postmasters throughout the country prepare plans to meet the demand in their areas.

Cannone said the San Diego County plan calls for expanded service in 18 areas. Some projects--such as in La Jolla, where property costs more--will be far more expensive than others.

San Diego Division officials have identified eight areas as in greatest need of expansion--Escondido, El Cajon, Carlsbad, Ramona, Chula Vista and in San Diego the John Adams (Normal Heights), North Park and La Jolla stations. Plans call for the construction of new stations in Chula Vista, La Jolla, El Cajon and Carlsbad, Cannone said.

“These are the offices with the needs that are the most urgent,” Cannone said.

Other areas that are being studied for the construction of new or expanded postal stations: Otay Mesa, Lakeside, La Mesa, Vista, San Ysidro, City Heights (East San Diego), George Washington (Golden Hill), Andrew Jackson (College Area), Scripps and Paradise Hills.

Margaret L. Sellers, postmaster for the San Diego Division and for the City of San Diego, said the response from city administrators to the post office plans has been “very positive.”

Postal officials said they are having trouble finding reasonably priced land.

“It’s a real slow thing getting this land,” Sellers said. “We’re growing so fast we’re just trying to keep up.”

Michael J. Stetner, San Diego’s assistant planning director, said that although the city supports the expansion plans, officials must review the designs, traffic and environmental studies surrounding individual sites before giving any kind of a approval.

“We have two requests (for John Adams and North Park stations), and we expect to have an answer for them in a day or two,” Stetner said. “We think it’s appropriate to expand post office services. But we think we have to look for the appropriate location.”