2009: A Year Of Survival For The Revered Hawleyville Post Office

By Nancy K. Crevier

It was like a ride on a scary roller coaster, but it seems like 2009 may finally be wrapping up the years-long saga of the Hawleyville Post Office. The future of the Hawleyville Post Office has been in question for nearly four years, as the USPS has time and again revisited plans to relocate or rebuild the popular post office due to deterioration of the facility and a lack of adequate space. During this time the USPS has repeatedly stated its commitment to keeping the facility open and to accommodate the needs and desires of the people serviced by the Hawleyville location.

But in January, instead of hearts and flowers, the USPS ordered up heartbreak for the staff and customers of Hawleyville Post Office for St Valentine’s Day, by announcing that the facility would be closed effective the close of business on Saturday, February 14. More than a dozen people gathered with Newtown resident Ann Marie Mitchell to put together a grassroots group, Save Hawleyville Post Office, protesting the closing of the Route 25 office. Thanks to their diligence and that of Congressman Chris Murphy, members of the Save Hawleyville Post Office committee were thrilled to find out February 4 that what looked like a death knell for the Route 25 facility was to be a temporary inconvenience.

A press release issued by the congressman’s office that morning read in part, “After months of uncertainty concerning the fate of the Hawleyville Post Office, today Congressman Chris Murphy (CT-5) declared victory and announced that the United States Postal Service has approved a new facility, to be built under an expedited schedule, so that Hawleyville residents will continue to have their postal needs fully served.”

The Hawleyville Post Office ceased operations on Valentine’s Day, with services relocated to the Newtown Post Office on Commerce Road. Then on March 5, William Moncrief, United States Postal Service (USPS) real estate specialist for the Northeast facilities service office, fielded questions concerning the process for procuring an alternative site from a mostly cordial crowd of nearly 100 gathered in the C.H. Booth Library meeting room. Mr Moncrief was adamant in clarifying that the Hawleyville Post Office had never been a candidate for discontinuation, and as the USPS has asserted over the past three years, the Route 25 facility was never slated for closing. “It’s a suspension of services, a temporary closing,” he emphasized.

Mr Moncrief also noted that it could be beneficial to expediting the process if the USPS were to hear from Newtown’s selectman. First Selectman Joe Borst responded swiftly, sending out a letter to Mr Moncrief on March 9 reiterating his request voiced at the public forum that the scope of the USPS property search for a new Hawleyville Post Office be changed from a “one mile circle” to “in the vicinity of the Hawleyville Post Office,” which was located on Route 25, north of Exit 9. He also restated his position that a building being erected at 23 Barnabas Road “would be an ideal location since the builder has been working with the postal service to meet their design specifications.” In closing, Mr Borst encouraged the USPS to contact him to speed the project to a successful conclusion.

Members and guests of the Committee to Save Hawleyville Post Office gathered Saturday, April 25, at DeGrazia Vineyards in Brookfield to celebrate the Hawleyville Post Office community, receive updates on the new post office facility, and to enjoy local wine, music, and chocolates from Bridgewater Chocolates. It was also an opportunity, said committee member Dot Dwyer, to “make sure the USPS knows we aren’t going to go away until a new post office is here in Hawleyville.”

Options other than the Barnabas Road site were in the running this past year, as the USPS narrowed its search for a new facility space. For three years, Mark Murphy of Dimark Development in Amsterdam, N.Y., had been working with the Housatonic Railroad and the United States Postal Service (USPS) to come to a decision as to the fate of the building that until this past February housed the Hawleyville Post Office. Mr Murphy said he has typically waited until he has a lease in hand from the USPS before going before a town board or forum. But after going to the Save Hawleyville Post Office committee website following a site visit in Hawleyville, Mr Murphy was disappointed to find that the group and first selectman of Newtown had already endorsed the Barnabas Road project as a desirable place to reopen the temporarily closed Hawleyville Post Office.

Barnabas Road developer Steve Nicolosi and Mr Murphy were not the only ones anxiously awaiting the United States Postal Services’ decision regarding the replacement of the Hawleyville Post Office. Phil Clark of Claris Construction in Newtown had also met with representatives of the USPS concerning property he has proposed to renovate as a new Hawleyville Post Office at 115 Mt Pleasant Road.

On Thursday, May 28, the office of the Newtown Selectman Joe Borst received notification from United States Postal Service real estate specialist William Moncrief that the USPS had decided to relocate the Hawleyville Post Office to 23 Barnabas Road.

In late July, USPS spokesperson Maureen Marion said in an email to The Newtown Bee that upcoming meetings with the developer/contractor were scheduled to “help finalize some elements of design and the associated costs to bring the site up to speed as a new post office.” Those details would include utility accessibility, and architectural designs for the interior work “in compliance with our rather rigid and standardized postal requirements for security and retail application,” she noted.

Tower Realty broker Mick Consalvo confirmed August 26 that a long-term lease for an approximately 2,000-square-foot space at 23 Barnabas Road in Hawleyville had finally been signed by Hawleyville Development, LLC and the United States Postal Service (USPS). The lease was signed by the developer August 13 and countersigned by the USPS, Monday, August 24.

Work has progressed at the expected pace, said Steve Nicolosi in early November, but a 2009 holiday opening was not in the cards. Nonetheless, with all of the ups and downs of the past twelve months, it looks like 2010 may actually usher in a day that will see post office patrons back in Hawleyville. Stay tuned….