Residents Turn Down Proposal for Home Mail Delivery

More than 100 residents of this small beach community gathered at a community association meeting this week to vote on whether they wanted home delivery of mail--and only three said “yes.”

Sunset Beach and parts of Silverado Canyon are the only Orange County communities where residents must pick up their mail at the post office.

“Most people really like it the way it is,” said Pat Thies, president of the Sunset Beach Community Assn. “It’s really not inconvenient for most people.”

Resident Wayne Mills argued in favor of home delivery at the packed meeting Thursday night, but he said his comments were cut short.

“It was a railroad job,” Mills said of the meeting. “It was a kangaroo court.”

Mills contends that limited parking at the post office and its busy Pacific Coast Highway location make picking up mail difficult and sometimes dangerous. Mills donated a bicycle rack to the post office Friday to help ease some of the congestion.

He also objects to paying $8 a year to receive mail, which he said should be delivered free.

But Postmaster Richard Deyarmond said the fee is modest compared to a $40 annual fee at the neighboring Huntington Beach Post Office.

“The community does not want to change the status quo,” Deyarmond said.

Residents are also fighting to keep the county from converting their only public parking area to a paid lot.

Under a county proposal, residents would pay a $40 annual parking fee, and vehicles could not be left in the lot after 10 p.m.